


dead by daylight

by mudita



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Blood and Gore, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Major Character Injury, Mild Language, Monsters, Peril, Romance, Self-Esteem Issues, based on a very vivid dream i had, gwen is a smart cookie, she just needs to believe in herself more
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-13
Updated: 2020-08-19
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:34:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 23,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24689959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mudita/pseuds/mudita
Summary: an unusual stint of charity by mr. campbell prompts a three day trip to a nice hotel and a lot of sight seeing. when david, gwen and the campers decide to look inside a popular museum, two things become apparent.one: gwen's ex-boyfriend works at the museum.and two? he's a monster from another plane of existence. great.when david goes missing, it's up to gwen to find him and protect the kids, all while battling an inter-dimensional creature and keeping herself together in the process. no amount of horror movies or trashy monster romance novels could've prepared her for any of this.
Relationships: David/Gwen (Camp Camp)
Comments: 25
Kudos: 45





	1. Chapter 1

In an effort to improve himself, Mr. Campbell had decided to take them all on a trip. Gwen knew something wasn’t right the minute he proposed the idea, and had spent the better part of ten minutes trying to wrangle information out of him. Mr. Campbell was a professional con-man, and his penny-pinching ways were part of the reason why the camp was so run down to begin with. The camp ran on a shoestring budget, which left Gwen in charge of the usual end of the month finances. It was a tiring, stressful process, but someone had to do it. The kids were already swindled out of going to the camps their parents originally signed them up for, Gwen figured that the least she could do was keep them afloat financially. Plus, this was the only job she had. She couldn’t afford to lose it. 

Sure, Mr. Campbell had been trying to be a better person, but it didn’t come easy. He more often than not slunk back to his skeevy ways when taking the high route didn’t go as planned. David, practically the epitome of all things good, did his best to steer Mr. Campbell in the right direction from time to time. Gwen admired him for it, but the cynical side of her still held fast to a healthy dose of suspicion. She had spent the better part of the week holed up in the counselor’s cabin, trying to figure out how they were going to afford this little excursion. She had been calculating for the past hour, and her stomach clenched uncomfortably the more she began to account for gas, food and hotel prices. _How_ in the world were they going to…

And then Mr. Campbell came bursting in. 

He looked entirely too pleased with himself, and when Gwen hounded him about the expenses, he dug into his pants pocket and tossed her a stack of bills. Gwen flipped through the money tied tight with a rubber band, and took out a one hundred dollar bill to inspect it. Mr. Campbell made an offended noise at that. 

“You don’t really think I’d try and cheat you in any way, do you?” he asked, trying his hardest to sound innocent. Gwen fixed him with a sardonic look, raising one eyebrow pointedly. 

“Uh, yeah. I actually do.” Gwen took out some more bills and inspected them closely. “I know you have a penchant for forging money.” 

“That was in the past!” Mr. Campbell puffed up his chest, and Gwen figured if he were a peacock, his feathers would be spread at attention by now. “I’m turning over a new leaf, Gwennie!”

“Don’t call me Gwennie.” she placed the stack of money next to the pile of papers spread out over the table. “But...is this really all for the trip? Is it enough?”

“I have more if it’s not.” Mr. Campbell had assured her. “One of your little campers...Mac...was it?”

“Max.” Gwen corrected simply, her suspicions only growing at the mention of his name. 

“Yeah, him. He said that part of being a better person is doing good things for others, not for personal gain, but because you really want to. So, I figured what better way to show that than to take the campers somewhere fun for a few days.” 

Gwen swiveled her chair around so that she was fully facing Mr. Campbell, folding her arms, legs crossed. Her bullshit alarm was going off like the town siren. Max was still only a kid, but he never did something for nothing. He had a strangely devious mind like that. “Really? So, Max didn’t try to trick you into taking us away from camp in order to try and run away again?” 

At this, Mr. Campbell rolled his eyes. “Oh please, Gwen. Max may be a conniving little bastard, most of the kids are, but I’d have to be a special kind of stupid not to know when I’m being tricked by a ten year old.” He shook his head. “No, I’m doing this as an act of good. Nothing more, nothing less.” 

Gwen scrutinized him for a moment or two. He didn’t appear to be lying, and the campers already knew about the trip. They were all really excited about it, and as apathetic as Gwen was, she knew just how bad they would feel if the plan didn’t go through. David _was_ always telling her to be a bit more positive, after all.

“Fine.” she said, turning back around to glance over her notes and papers. Mr. Campbell smiled and took his leave. Gwen eyed the money on the table. The stack was huge, it was probably more than enough to cover the costs. But just to be sure, she’d triple check everything. Gwen had always tried her hardest not to care much about the campers. They were devious and clever and incredibly exhausting…

But they also looked up to her, in a way. They relied on her, even if dealing with them sometimes felt like one of the seven labors of Hercules. They had managed to worm their way into her heart, as painful as it was for Gwen to admit that. So, she was going to try. Hell, even if Max did try to pull a stunt somewhere during their field trip or they ran out of money, Gwen would try her best to fix it. 

Once the details were gone over and all of the finances were settled, Gwen told David that everything was ready. She had discussed the best routes to take with Quartermaster, had made reservations at a hotel and informed everyone’s parents about their impromptu field trip. David helped as much as he could, making sure the campers had everything they needed for their three days away from camp. Once Gwen had briefed him on the finances and about Mr. Campbell’s generous donation, David actually looked like he was going to cry. He was such a _sap_ , Gwen thought. It was almost embarrassing. 

She wouldn’t admit that seeing David’s face light up almost made the trouble she went through worth it. She just hoped Mr. Campbell wasn’t lying, and if luck was on her side, they would all make it through this field trip in one piece. 

  
  
  


It was just after breakfast when Gwen and David ushered the kids to get on the bus. Despite the early hour, they were all practically brimming with excitement. The only one who didn’t seem enthusiastic was Nikki, who was afraid of “losing her roots,” as she so dramatically put it. In order to placate herself, Nikki had stuffed her pockets with dirt. She also had a silver trinket and a black feather suspended from a twine string that she clung to fiercely. When Gwen questioned her about it, Nikki proudly proclaimed that she befriended a crow and it had given her the trinket as a gift. 

In the back of her mind, Gwen made a mental note to, once again, warn Nikki about the dangers of befriending and taking things from wild animals. Quartermaster sat at the wheel, glancing over the map and grumbling under his breath. Gwen and David checked twice that everyone’s belongings were on the bus, as well as the first aid kits (they would need more than one). Gwen checked her purse, noting that the money, credit cards and other essentials were tucked away properly. 

Because Gwen’s anxiety wouldn’t leave her alone, she and David checked everything over one last time (“We’re going to be here forever if you two don’t hurry the fuck up!” was Max’s impatient reply from the back of the bus), and finally they were ready to leave. Gwen took a seat beside David as the bus shuddered to life and pulled away from the camp. 

“I wonder why Mr. Campbell didn’t want to come along.” David asked, and Gwen glanced up from her phone briefly.

“I’m glad he’s not.” she confessed. “Given his criminal history, we’d just barely make it away from camp before the feds caught up with him.” Despite this being Mr. Campbell’s idea, Gwen knew that he could really only take the campers in small doses. She rolled her eyes. Mr. Campbell was such a baby sometimes. David and her broke their backs daily just to get through breakfast. 

“We’ll have to take a bunch of pictures to show him when we get back.” David replied sunnily. Gwen doubted Mr. Campbell would be interested in that, but she didn’t have the heart to tell him. She tapped away on her phone, periodically looking up to check on the campers. For the most part, they all seemed to be talking animatedly with one another. Despite them already being on the bus, Gwen couldn’t help but still feel anxious. Nothing ever went according to plan when it came to them. That was a big part of her earlier resignations towards this trip. Gwen could make plans from A to Z and something _still_ would go wrong…

“You’re bouncing your leg again, Gwen.” David commented, eyes focused on the brochures in front of him. They both had picked out the best hotel to stay in and places to visit over the next three days. Despite the money Mr. Campbell pitched in, they still picked a cheap hotel. Normally, Gwen wouldn’t hesitate to milk Mr. Campbell for all of his money for all the crap he put them through, but she figured that any money leftover from the trip would be better used for the camp’s budget. 

“This trip is going to be a disaster.” she mumbled, her thoughts already racing. “Someone’s going to end up dead. Or missing. Nikki will try to escape and Max will tag along with her. Space kid is going to blab about the camp to anyone who will ask and then we’ll both go to jail…”

“You’re overthinking this, Gwen.” David flipped a page in the hotel brochure, and looked up to send a kind smile her way. “Everything is going to be fine! We’ll keep an extra eye on the campers. What with all the fun we’ll be having, these three days will go by in a breeze.”

“My anxiety doesn’t allow me to have fun.” Gwen replied dryly. 

David pulled his phone out of his pants pocket and a pair of earbuds. Gwen didn’t know how he managed to take his phone back from Max. “Well, here. Watch The X Files with me until we get there.” Gwen leaned in close until they were practically brushing shoulders. They had a habit of watching t.v. together whenever they had some downtime. They both had a thing for 80’s movies, and had gone through a good number of them so far before David recommended they watch The X-Files. As it turned out, Gwen actually enjoyed those times more than she thought she would. 

As the opening theme came on and David balanced his phone between them, Gwen put one earbud in and settled further into the seat, allowing herself a brief moment to relax as the bus bounced over the dirt road before them. 

  
  


It took an incredibly long time for them to fully leave behind the trees and flatland to something resembling city life. Eventually, both Gwen and David had fallen asleep, with her head resting on David’s shoulder. Gwen was suddenly jerked out of her dreamless sleep when someone jostled her leg. Gwen’s eyes snapped open and she jerked, blinking hard before her gaze fell on space kid. 

“Gwen?” Space kid said, lowering his voice so he wouldn't wake David. “I need to use the bathroom.” 

So much for sleeping. Gwen yawned and began to sit up. “Uh, okay. Hold on a minute.” she sat up, careful not to move David, and made her way to the front of the bus. Quartermaster said that the nearest rest stop was coming up shortly, Gwen just hoped space kid could hold it until then. Gwen’s eyes scanned the seats, taking note of everyone. Most of the kids were asleep themselves, save for a handful. Nerris and Ered were playing cat’s cradle. Neil and Nikki were dealing cards. One good thing about camp was that it eventually gave the kids a newfound appreciation for games that didn't depend on technology. Gwen was attached to her phone at the hip, but even she saw the merit in putting down the screen once in a while.

Max was awake, and he had a smug look on his face as he locked eyes with Gwen, as if he knew something she didn’t. Instead of indulging him, Gwen merely went back and sat down next to David. She didn’t want anything to do with whatever Max was currently thinking of. The bus trip had been too long and peaceful, so this was about the right time when he began to stir up trouble. 

When they finally reached a gas station, David and Gwen ushered them all out of the bus. David guided space kid to the bathroom, leaving Gwen in charge of the rest of the campers, all of whom wanted something to eat. Gwen made them get into line as she took them all into the store. Once inside, Gwen allowed them to pick out two items each and set them loose. While she waited, Gwen stretched her arms and rubbed at her neck. The bus ride made her back ache like crazy.

“I saw you all cozied up with David on the bus.” Max’s sardonic voice was at her hip, and she gave him an irritated stare.

“Yeah, so? And aren’t you going to pick out a snack, or whatever?”

“Oh, I’m going to. I just thought it was funny.”

Gwen rolled her eyes, unable to come up with something smart to say. “Whatever. Just pick something already so we can get going.” Max gave her one last smirk before sauntering off. Once he’s out of eye-shot, Gwen feels her face begin to heat up. She’s annoyed, Max had a way of teasing her about David that left her distracted and weird for a long time afterward. Okay, so she might _possibly_ have a very small, microscopic, teensy-weensy crush on David. It wasn’t anything worth discussing or looking any deeper into. Gwen can’t really remember how it started, somehow, she just _knew_. David was good-hearted and kind. He was optimistic to the point of near insanity, and felt his emotions so strongly it was almost overwhelming. 

Sure, his relentless cheerfulness grated on her nerves when they first met, but Gwen soon realized that he was just...like that. It was nice to be around someone who always saw the good in everything. So far, nobody had picked up on her secret crush, and Gwen would do everything she could to keep it that way. There was no way she was going to get into a relationship with David. 

They just...wouldn’t work. 

The snacks were paid for, and Gwen carried two heavy bags full of chocolate, chips, juice, soda, cookies and other assorted confectionery back to the bus. She figured this would hold them until they got to the hotel. Quartermaster had filled the bus with gas, and David let space kid get his pick of snacks before they all went back on the bus. It took a while, because Nikki was rolling around in the dirt and didn’t want to leave. She missed the smell of the pines and was only appeased when the snacks were distributed. 

Another hour and a half passed before they finally arrived at the hotel, and Gwen couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief when they arrived. The kids were getting antsy, and there were only so many times they could sing camp songs before enthusiasm plummeted. It was mid afternoon when they arrived, and Gwen immediately went to the front desk to ask about the rooms. Mr Campbell had already made reservations for them, and told Gwen that she only needed to check in. 

As it turned out, the man who owned the hotel was good friends with Mr. Campbell, something that greatly surprised Gwen. She even got to meet him. He was a tall, broad-shouldered man in a well dressed suit, and he had all the charisma of a fast-talking car salesman. It soon came as less of a shock when she quickly figured out that the owner was just as shady as Mr. Campbell himself, she figured that they most likely did business together when the camp was in its earliest stages. She didn’t really know how to feel about the fact that Mr. Campbell was still in contact with his criminal confidants, but whatever. They had enough rooms and Gwen didn’t have to pay a dime.

They were led up to their rooms, and Gwen divided the campers up so that no one was left sleeping by themselves. David assisted her in checking the beds (because there was _no way_ she was dealing with the possibility of bed bugs), and helped them all unpack. The last room was reserved for her and David, and the A.C. was a blessing from the oppressive summer heat they had to endure on the bus. 

Gwen did a thorough inspection of both beds and finally allowed herself to lay back on one of them. Words couldn’t describe how great it was. The blankets were clean and soft, the pillows were firm, and the mattress felt like she was laying on a cloud. David found her curled up on one of the beds like a house cat and laughed. 

“Comfortable?” he asked and Gwen nodded. 

“The owner has definitely murdered a man, but I could almost overlook that because these beds are fucking _amazing_.” It was levels above the tiny beds they were used to sleeping in back at camp. Gwen wondered if she would be able to steal the blankets and grab a pillow or two without being noticed. The springs creaked as David settled into his own bed.

“Wow.” he said, and Gwen turned to grin at him.

“See? I told you!” 

“Y’know, I think this trip was a good idea.” David took off his yellow bandanna and set it on the nightstand. “The kids seem really happy about being here.”

“That’s great.” Gwen replied, she had her eyes closed and wasn’t really paying attention. The blankets smelled like _lavender!_

There was a sudden knock on the door and David got up to answer it. Max strolled in, pushing past David. Gwen sat up, remembering Max’s words at the gas station. Oh boy, she hoped being in the same room as David wasn’t going to be weird now that she was suddenly very aware of him…

Wait, what? That didn’t make sense. She had shared a room with David for the better part of a year, now she was suddenly overthinking every little thing? Gwen shook her head, clearing those thoughts away. _Don’t be so pathetic, Gwen._ She told herself sternly. _Get it together!_

“So what the fuck are we going to eat?” Max asked. “We’ve been on that crappy excuse for a bus for about three hours now.”

“Do you have something particular in mind?” Gwen asked, and she shifted on the bed. “Here, feel this pillow.” 

“Pizza.” Max grunted and snatched the offered pillow from her. He gave it an experimental rub against his face and Gwen watched in satisfaction as his eyes got three times larger. 

“Fuck, that’s soft.” 

“I know! I’m gonna see if I can take them when we leave.” 

“Why doesn’t Campbell invest in something like this?” Max asked, clutching the pillow to his chest. “I’m sick of using sack cloth as blankets. This is the type of shit we should be using.” 

Nikki strolled in suddenly, looking pale and depressed. Her back was hunched and even her hair appeared limp and dull. 

“I hate it here!” she snapped irritably. “It’s too...metropolitan! I need dirt! I need bugs!” she collapsed onto the carpet with an exaggerated flourish. “How long are we staying here for?”

“Three days.” Gwen replied simply, and Nikki let out a long groan. 

“I’ll never make it.” she bemoaned. “I can already feel my body changing.” she raised her arms and looked at her hands. “Just watch, I’ll be fading into dust in a few hours.”

Gwen rolled her eyes good-naturedly. She could give Preston a run for his money when it came to dramatics. 

“Don’t be like that, Nikki.” David offered her a wide smile. “This’ll be good for you guys, I just know it. We’ll have loads of fun and you’ll get to discover more about yourself and your other friends!” 

Nikki didn’t respond, but she gave David a long look. 

“You’re literally the biggest fucking simp I have ever met.” Max quipped, and Gwen reached for her phone, dialing the nearest pizza place while Nikki’s loud peals of laughter filled the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i've only been to a hotel once in my life and i barely remember it, so some stuff may not be entirely accurate, but i'll do my best to make it believable. how did you like the first chapter? i know it's pretty long, but i worked on this for three days and i couldn't make it any shorter, so i figured it's best to leave it as it is.
> 
> my sister had watched camp camp for the first time yesterday and the first thing she told me was that david was a simp and i couldn't not put that in the fic. it was just too good.
> 
> since this is my first camp camp fic, constructive criticism is greatly appreciated. please enjoy and tell me what you think. stay safe, wear your masks and wash your hands! thank you for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> gwen learns something new about david, acts as a big sister (because she refuses to think of herself as anything else), and clowns a nosy lady at the arcade.

Gwen collapses into bed that night, hair still wet from her shower, and melts into the mattress. She’s never going to be able to get over how comfortable the hotel beds were. They had spent the rest of the day sight-seeing, stopping at parks and making their way through the summer crowds. It took a lot longer than expected because David  _ insisted _ on stopping every hour and taking pictures. He claimed that they were making memories and Gwen was tempted to take his phone and give it to Max just to make him stop. 

They ended the day with a trip to the mall, a white sprawling building with neon signs and a vintage ice cream parlor that they visited. The campers liked the mall most, Gwen figured they would. Nerris had found a new fantasy role-playing board game and wouldn’t put it down until Gwen bought it for her. Ered and Nurf had eaten their weight in ice cream and kept trying to coerce David and Gwen into letting them get cake as well. David promised to get them dessert after dinner. 

There was an animal shelter that they stumbled across on their way back to the hotel and Max wouldn’t leave no matter how hard Gwen tugged at the back of his hoodie. Nikki had been looking at the birds, claiming that she could communicate with them by chirping and whistling. They finally got kicked out when Nikki tried to take the snakes out of the tank and smuggle them out of the store. 

_ “They want to be free, Gwen!” Nikki exclaimed as she was dragged away. “We’re kindred spirits! We don’t deserve to be in a cage!” _

_ “Uh-huh.” _

_ “I can train them to attack on command like that wolf pack back at camp! That would be so freaking sweet.” _

_ “Whatever you say, Nikki.”  _

Dinner was a loud, messy affair followed by an even messier dessert. Gwen and David wrangled the kids into bed  _ finally _ and took showers before settling into their own beds. David had flicked on the t.v. and turned on an old sitcom. Together, they sat in comfortable silence until David spoke up. 

“I’m thinking of adopting Max.” he said suddenly, and it took Gwen a moment or two before what he said sunk in.

“What?” Gwen turned around to face him, blinking in surprise. “Really?” 

“Yeah,” David nodded. “I’ve been going through with the adoption process, but it takes a while.” 

Gwen blinked again, her brain scrambling to form a proper sentence. “I...wow. What made you decide to do that?” 

David was silent for a while before turning around to face her fully, an uncharacteristically somber expression on his face. “I’m sure you figured it out by now, but his parents are bad, Gwen. More than bad, they’re terrible. At first, I was hoping that a relative of Max’s would be able to take him in, but all he has is his parents. I spoke to them.” He ran a hand through his hair and expelled a sigh. “I don’t really want to go into all the details, but his parents weren’t exactly resistant to the idea. They didn’t even care that I was a complete stranger to them! I mean, I knew they were bad, Gwen, but I was hoping that they would at least try to argue with me when I first proposed the idea.” 

Gwen felt her heart sink. Max often said that his parents didn’t care about him, she had only gotten a small glimpse of that when everyone’s parents except for his came to the camp. To be honest, Gwen had always figured Max didn’t have a very happy home life. His overall demeanor, the apathy and anger that always seemed to just be bubbling beneath the surface all gave it away. Gwen figured his parents were irresponsible and neglectful, but she didn’t know the full extent. 

A part of her didn’t really want to.

Max may drive her crazy on a daily basis, and sometimes his words really could cut, but he was still ten years old. He was still a kid. It had to hurt to know that your parents just didn’t give a shit about you, and that they were so willing to put you in the care of a total stranger, no matter how good-hearted and well intentioned David was. Perhaps that was why Gwen could never truly get angry with him. Hell, she didn’t double major in psychology for nothing. She could pick Max apart and get to the root of his problems with enough time if she wanted to. 

“Does Max know you’re doing this?” Gwen’s voice was a whisper, and David nodded. 

“He didn’t handle it well.” David replied, frowning. “But he’s coming around, I think? I hope.” he was silent for a long moment before speaking again. “Maybe I’m being stupid, Gwen, but I really think I should do this. Max is a good kid and when I think about it...I could really see myself being a parent to him.” a small smile graced his face as he looked down at his lap. “I  _ want _ to be his parent, Gwen.”

Gwen didn’t respond for a moment, mainly because a lump had formed in her throat. She had never heard David sound so serious and so passionate before. She knew David doted on Max even if they tended to butt heads. He was always believing the best in the kid, always willing to steer him in the right direction. Max needed an adult that would believe in him, who would tear down his walls and give him the childhood he deserved. David seemed like the perfect person to do just that. 

“Gwen?” 

“Yeah,” Gwen cleared her throat. She was not about to start bawling. “Well, I don’t think you’re being stupid, David. That’s incredibly admirable of you, not anyone would be willing to take on something this big, especially by themselves. Once you become his legal guardian, I really think you’ll both be, y’know, happier.” she shrugged, feeling herself get embarrassed. She didn’t need another reason for her crush on David to get any bigger. David visibly brightened at that. 

“I think so, too! I’m trying my best to be patient but I don’t know how long I can wait.”

Gwen smiled and laid back on her pillows. David picked the remote back up and began flicking through the channels again. Picturing David as a single parent nearly made Gwen laugh. She could only imagine him getting Max ready for school and attending all of those terrible parent teacher conferences.

_ But where exactly does that leave you?  _ A small voice whispered in the back of her mind.

Gwen blinked. What the hell was that? She knew she wasn’t going to date David, so why was she thinking about her place in his life? They’d remain friends, nothing more…

Besides, Gwen wasn’t parent material, she didn’t have a maternal bone in her body. Kids were a hassle and her finances were crap. There’s no way she’d be able to take care of a child when she had a track record several miles long of job rejections. Another voice, one a bit more familiar to her, rose to the forefront of her mind.  _ You’d just end up ruining one of the good things in David’s life.  _

“Oh hey!” David’s voice broke through her train of thought and Gwen sat up. “Dirty Dancing is on!” 

“Let’s watch it.” Gwen suggested, eager for a distraction. “And let’s order drinks!” 

  
  


Gwen did  _ not _ want to leave her bed the next day. Unfortunately, her body had gotten used to waking up early in order to get ready for breakfast back at camp, which caused her eyes to crack open at 6:30 in the damn morning. Gwen groaned, rubbing at her eyes as she took in her surroundings. The curtains blocked out most of the sunlight, leaving it blissfully dark and she was tempted to roll over and go back to sleep. Did it really matter if she woke up a little later than usual? 

Gwen turned on her side, catching sight of David. He was still asleep, with one arm draped over his eyes. She listened to his steady breathing for a moment before deciding that she was officially a creep, and pulled herself out of bed and headed to the bathroom. She grabbed her clothes on the way and took one last look at David to make sure she didn’t wake him. Ten minutes later, she emerged, fresh and clean and in considerably better spirits. By that time, David was already awake. 

“Good morning, Gwen!” he chirped, already getting up to head to the bathroom. “Sleep well?”

“Yeah, you?” she asked, trying to ignore his sleepy look and tousled hair. Instead she focused on the fact that David was bright-eyed and chipper at an ungodly hour in the morning. She had no idea how he always managed to do that. 

David stretched, his shirt riding up as he did so and Gwen didn’t hear his reply because she was focusing intently on the wall in front of her and was currently thinking about baby sheep. When she came back to reality, David was in the bathroom and Gwen sat down, putting her face in her hands. She was such a fucking weirdo! She  _ knew _ this was going to happen! 

“Stop it!” she whispered furiously to herself. “Stop being a...freak! David is your friend,  _ you do not like him _ , and you  _ will _ act like a normal human being!” Gwen exhaled a sigh, putting on a neutral expression and standing up. Okay, she could do this. Gwen was pretty good at masking her emotions when she wanted to. She could hold in her inner love struck school girl and deal with her feelings later.

They ate breakfast at a nearby diner, which was relatively empty save for a few people. Gwen and David made sure the campers got their food first before ordering for themselves. David stopped Max from getting coffee when he asked for it (the waitress was giving them weird looks) and instead made sure he had juice instead. Gwen was pointedly ignoring the heated glare Max was giving them both as he sipped from his cup and instead began to dig into her pancakes. There was something about well-cooked breakfast food that beat the slop they ate at camp any day. 

Gwen and David had just begun to eat when Preston came up to them and slapped a piece of paper onto the table. 

“I want to go to this.” he said and Gwen rolled her eyes. 

“Not now, Preston. Can’t you see we’re eating?” 

“You can have your little breakfast date later!” Preston exclaimed and Gwen winced. He still had a habit of yelling on account of living with his partially deaf grandmother. Gwen had gotten used to it, but that didn’t mean it was pleasant to hear this early in the morning. “This is important!” David leaned over and inspected the paper. “Shakespeare in the park?” he quirked an eyebrow. “Is that appropriate?”

“I have no idea.” Gwen said, still chewing. She hated having to read Shakespeare in high school. “When is it?” 

“It’s at 5, and I really want to go,” Preston said, shifting on the balls of his feet eagerly. “Can we go? Can we?!” 

“Fine,” Gwen appeased, if only to keep him from yelling any more. “I’ll look into it, okay? Just...please go away.” Preston snatched up the paper, chest puffed out in victory and returned to his table. Gwen sighed and went back to her food. “So, what’s on the agenda for today?” she asked. 

“We're going to the arcade today, and afterwards we have that trip to the children’s museum. They have a science exhibition and an observatory, too.” 

_ “A science exhibit?!”  _

Gwen nearly choked on her food. Neil was standing two feet from them, a wide smile gracing his face. “Fuck, Neil! When the hell did you show up?” Gwen swore irritably. “Why can’t you guys just sit down?!”

“When’s the exhibit?” Neil plowed on, ignoring her entirely. “Can we go now?”

“It’s not until 3 o’clock, Neil. We have to go to the arcade first.” David said, passing Gwen a napkin. 

“Yeah,” Gwen rasped, wiping her mouth. “and then there’s a Shakespeare play Preston wants to go to at five.” 

Neil scoffed, rolling his eyes. “Why the hell would I want to see that? Shakespeare’s been dead for years.”

“It’s important to Preston.” David explained. “Granted, the science exhibit is lasting the entire week, so we can always go back and visit it.” Neil hummed, looking disgruntled, and gave in.

“Fine, oh and by the way, Nurf’s trying to snort the sugar packets.” Neil seemed to delight in Gwen’s panicked expression and waltzed back to his seat. 

“Nurf!” Gwen whirled around and pointed her finger at the red-headed boy. “ _ Stop _ doing that! Stop it--Nurf!” 

  
  


The arcade was loud and teeming with people by the time they arrived. It was full of kids and teenagers on summer break, which meant that Gwen and David would have to keep a close eye on the campers so they wouldn’t get lost. The bright lights and loud music was overwhelming, and it all culminated in a stress headache for Gwen, who was trying her best to interact with the kids. 

She played a few games with them, David was more enthusiastic and allowed himself to be dragged from one game to the other. When it seemed like Gwen was growing tired, David would step in and guide a kid to the prize stand or help them in a game. It was sweet, he was always doing things like that. Gwen was sitting on a nearby bench when she spotted Ered slinking off from the group and leaving the arcade. Curious, Gwen got up and maneuvered her way through the throngs of parents and screaming children and out of the arcade. Ered was striding purposely down the mall and Gwen quickly caught up with her by the restrooms, taking her by the shoulder. 

“Hey, you okay?” Gwen asked and Ered quickly turned to her. 

“I’m fine.” Ered said, reaching up to brush her bangs out of her face. “I just needed to use the bathroom.”

“Oh, okay. Well, I’ll just wait out here then.” Gwen said, already pulling out her phone. “That arcade is crazy loud.” Ered made a noise of agreement and slipped into the bathroom. Gwen was checking her email when, not a few minutes later, Ered came rushing out of the bathroom. 

“Gwen.” she said seriously, and Gwen frowned at her pale, anxious expression. “My period is on.” 

Gwen was able to get pads from a nearby CVS, and she also got a cheap book bag to put them in because Ered grew distressed at the thought of anyone looking into the plastic bag and asking her about the pads. Ered returned to the bathroom, came out, and Gwen walked her back to the arcade. Gwen took her seat while Ered challenged Space kid to a shooting game, and watched as Neil and Nikki attempted to play Dance Dance Revolution. She tried to find David in the crowd, but couldn’t spot him anywhere. 

“What’s with the bookbag?” Max said, sitting down beside her. 

“Nothing.” Gwen said quickly. “Shouldn’t you be off playing one of the games?”

Max shrugged. “Eh. I like go karts better.” his eyes lingered over the crowd until they widened comically. “Oh my God.” he smacked Gwen’s arm and pointed, lips curling into a grin. “Look, look!” 

Gwen followed his finger. Nikki and Neil were still playing Dance Dance. Poor Neil was losing miserably, looking awkward and uncomfortable as he tried to keep up with the moves flashing on the screen. Nikki, however, was a natural and looked like she was having the time of her life. It was  _ Neil _ , however, that caused Gwen to snicker. The kid just had no rhythm, and the stressed out look on his face only made it funnier. 

“Oh God, he looks terrified!” Gwen said, Max was already laughing and holding his sides. 

“He looks like he’s having a stroke!” Max commented, wiping tears out of his eyes, and that made Gwen laugh uproariously. Soon, they couldn’t control themselves, and the two of them collapsed into fits of laughter. Gwen knew they were probably getting weird looks, but she couldn’t bring herself to care. 

The longer it went on, the harder it became to stop. Nikki and Neil went through two rounds before stopping, and at that point Gwen’s stomach was cramping up. Her head pounded from lack of air, and she gasped, wiping at her eyes. God, she wished she had taken a video. That was too good.

“That was  _ hilarious _ .” she sniffed, rubbing at her temples. 

“The poor bastard!” Max crowed, fanning his face. “That was gold! I’ve never laughed that hard before.” He gave a content sigh. “Making fun of Neil is always funny.” Once they got themselves under control, Max made her take him to the prize stand, pulling his hands out of his hoodie pockets to reveal a heap of tickets. 

“Wow.” Gwen raised her eyebrows. “How’d you manage that?”

Max scoffed. “Please, I made these arcade games my bitch. Let’s go, I wanna see if I can get a pair of roller skates.” 

Gwen led Max to the prize stand, and insisted he hold her hand so she wouldn’t lose him in the throngs of people, which he complained about the entire time (“Just shut up and hold my hand.”). They surveyed the array of prizes, Gwen looking on with disinterest as Max’s eyes roamed over the toys. Gwen stepped closer to the counter as a pair of twins came running by, nearly colliding into a woman in a pink shirt who was looking at the toys.

“There!” Max pointed. “I want that!”

“You want a Wii?” Gwen asked. “I thought you said you wanted roller skates?”

“Fuck that, the Wii is better.”

Gwen could see the appeal, but one of the reasons why they were at camp in the first place was to be surrounded by nature or whatever, to get away from technology. Buying Max a video game seemed to defeat the purpose, plus, she knew that the other campers would want something like that, too, and she wasn't about to open up that particular can of worms. Skates were a better option.

“It’s 30,000 tickets. You don’t have enough.” Gwen told him. “Besides, we don’t have a T.V. back at camp...well, we don’t have a good T.V., at least.” 

“Well, what about that?”

“That’s a hoverboard, and you still don’t have enough.” Gwen squinted at the top row and pointed. “Look, skates!” Max growled.

“I don’t want any shitty skates.” he grumbled, his bad mood returning. “This whole establishment is a fucking cheat!”

Before Max could really get himself going, the pink shirt woman who happened to be standing nearby gave them both an incredulous look. “Your kid has one foul mouth.” she said, getting Gwen and Max’s attention. 

“Who the fuck are you?” Max snarked, not helping the situation in the slightest. Gwen mentally face-palmed and prepared to apologize. 

“Look, ma’am…”

“How in the world could you raise your...son to be so inappropriate?” the woman snapped, face turning a light shade of red. She glared at Max and Gwen swallowed. They were starting to garner a lot of stares, and her grip on Max’s hand tightened. 

“Listen, he’s not my--”

“Pushing out children doesn’t automatically make you a parent, little girl. You actually have to raise them right.” 

Gwen reared back, offended. Little girl? Just who the hell did this lady think she was? Ugh, there was  _ always _ someone like this. Some divorced, stuck up soccer mom in their forties who hadn’t gotten laid in years and felt the need to give a public service announcement when nobody asked for it.“First of all, this isn’t my kid.” Gwen snapped. “And if he  _ was _ , the first thing I would teach him is how to mind his own business, something you  _ clearly _ missed growing up.” the woman opened her mouth to reply and Gwen put her hand up, effectively cutting her off. “Fuck off, alright? And why don’t you take that pole out of your ass while you’re at it.” Gwen smacked the tickets down onto the ticket counter and fixed the employee behind the counter with a stare. “Give me the roller skates. The one with the light-up wheels.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i didn’t realize how long these chapters were getting, so i’m going to cut them down a little as the story progresses. updates are every wednesday, please enjoy and tell me what you think! thank you for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> gwen runs into a familiar face and the ball starts rolling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i can't fix the notes on any of the chapters so far and it's actually ruining my life. i'm sure it's something simple but i'm too much of an idiot to figure it out. that being said, please enjoy this chapter and tell me what you think! thank you for reading!

When they found the rest of the group, Max, through peals of laughter, told them all about Gwen’s argument at the prize stand. David gave Gwen a disapproving look (something she definitely wasn’t used to). 

“While I know you were just sticking up for Max, I don’t think it’s a good idea to curse out strangers, Gwen.” he said in an attempt to sound stern. “It leaves a bad impression on the camp.”

“I don’t think anyone cares about that, David.” Nikki admitted straightforwardly. Gwen rolled her eyes. Whatever. That lady had it coming.

“She’s just jealous that I’m gonna be young and sexy forever and she has to go around looking like... _ that _ .”

Max snorted derisively. “Oh yeah, that’s definitely it.”

“Someone was mean to you, Gwen?” Nurf asked, letting go of Nerris when he attempted to take off her elf ears. “If we can find her kid, I can beat them up for you and make it look like an accident.” 

“That’s sweet, Nurf. But no, I’m fine.” 

They depart the arcade a little while after, with David and Gwen navigating them to the museum that was, thankfully, close to the arcade mall. Gwen figured they could head to the museum and stop at the hotel afterwards to eat, and then head to Preston’s Shakespeare play...thing. It was a lot to do in one day, but Gwen knew that this would tire the campers out and she wouldn’t have to break her neck trying to get them into bed like last night. As they walked, Gwen couldn’t help but feel...happy, in a way. They only had one day left of their trip, but so far everything had gone pretty smoothly. 

She had to admit, it was nice being away from the camp for a change of scenery. Despite the noise and all of the people, there were upsides to traveling around the city. It was strange how it took several oddball campers and one cheery co-counselor for her to appreciate it. The only thing she really missed about the camp was the quiet. Too much noise and too many people made Gwen a little uneasy, she didn’t have to worry about that when she was surrounded by trees and woodland creatures. 

The museum was made for children, and had a lot of statues and interactive activities so they were constantly entertained. There were several different activities regarding astronomy, including an observatory and a virtual reality simulator that let you experience walking on the moon. Space kid was so excited Gwen was almost afraid he would pass out or cry or something. He insisted she try the VR goggles on, and she didn’t have the heart to refuse when he appeared so thrilled. 

It was actually pretty cool, and Gwen didn’t know a thing about space. Space kid was able to point out all of the constellations and planets. He rambled on about stars and supernovas and Gwen just nodded along enthusiastically, trying her best to keep up with him. They had found a hands on robotics station that enraptured Neil and Neil only. Gwen knew that each camper had their own weird fixation, and she found it rather cool that they were all at least trying to be supportive of Space kid and Neil. 

Gwen figured it would be better if they had a tour guide so they wouldn’t get distracted, and tried to find someone who didn’t look too busy. Summer school programs and different camps made that rather difficult, and Gwen couldn’t concentrate when Max kept trying to sneak off. Nikki claimed she was bored and made very loud proclamations about how much she missed the camp and the smell of pine trees. She had been faring well since they left, but Gwen knew it was only a matter of time before Nikki became antsy. David decided they split up to look for a tour guide, and Gwen, with both her eyes on Nikki and Max, agreed. 

“Can we leave yet?” Max complained. “This is so boring it’s literally driving me to homicide. This is my serial killer origin story, Gwen.” 

“If we don’t find some wild animals soon I’m going to burn this place to the ground just to feel something.” Nikki threatened, a dark shadow passing over her face. 

“We’ve been here for thirty minutes.” Gwen reasoned, trying not to sound too irritated. “The sooner we find a tour guide, the sooner we can get through the activities and leave.”

Nikki stopped abruptly and pointed. “How about him?” she asked. Gwen squinted, eyes scanning the room. She didn’t see anyone at first, but a man came walking into view and the bottom dropped out of Gwen’s stomach. 

“Nope.” she said, and steered them around. “We don’t need a tour guide. Let’s go.” She was practically pushing them in the back as she frantically tried to look for David. 

“What’s wrong, Gwen? Who is that?” Nikki asked. “I thought you said--”

“It’s nothing,” Gwen interjected, trying and failing to keep a calm composure. “We just need to…”

_ “Gwen?”  _

Several curses ran through her brain, and it took every ounce of willpower not to say them out loud. She wasn’t about to get into another argument with some middle-aged parent. Nikki and Max both stopped, refusing to move another inch no matter how hard Gwen pushed, and she had to resign herself to plastering on a smile and turning around. 

“Kevin!” Gwen greeted happily, giving an awkward wave. “...Hi!”

“Gwen, is that really you?! It’s been forever!” Gwen had dated exactly five guys her whole life, each with a varying degree of terrible qualities that caused the relationships to fizzle out and die tragic deaths. Kevin Mason was boyfriend number three and he was the least horrible of them all. Gwen dated him back in college, and vividly remembered meeting him when they were both waiting at the train station. 

It would’ve been romantic if it wasn’t pouring down raining and Gwen was running on zero sleep. She had slipped on the rain-slicked streets and landed in a puddle, causing her backside to become drenched in rain water. She was also carrying a hot chocolate, and that spilled on her as well, ruining her hoodie. Kevin had helped her up and led her to the train station, letting her have his seat on a bench. It was the most mortifying day of her life, but Kevin was nice. 

He didn’t make her feel stupid and fell into easy conversation with her. Gwen had forgotten all about her ruined clothes by time the train came, and they started seeing each other all over campus soon after that. Normally, Gwen would cringe at the memory, but whenever it crossed her mind she was torn between smiling and laughing at her own misfortune. It wasn’t  _ bad _ .

Looking at him now, Gwen could feel a small flicker of those same butterflies she thought were long dead coming back. He had a charming smile and pretty blue eyes, his brown hair was a little longer, but nothing much about him had changed. It didn’t help that he looked damn good in his employee uniform, too. 

“Yeah, it’s me. Been a while, huh?” Gwen found it easy to hug him, and once she let go, Kevin looked down at Nikki and Max. 

“Are these your kids?” he asked, eyebrows raised in interest. 

“Oh, no.” Gwen felt herself become awkward again. “I’m a...summer camp counselor.” she practically had to choke the words out, feeling heat rise to her face. It never got any easier admitting that. Her mother had given a nasty laugh when Gwen told her the first time she got the job. Ever since then, Gwen had to steel herself multiple times for the pitying glances and thinly veiled compliments about her job to anyone who asked. 

“Really? Y’know, I always thought you had a knack for working with kids.” Kevin said, and Gwen almost thought he was joking. “Are you still writing? I figured you’d be a successful writer by now.”

_ You and me both, buddy. _ Gwen thought. “I try to write when I have the time. What about you? Do you work here now?”

Kevin shook his head, eyes crinkling and Gwen swallowed. “Nah, I’m just helping out a friend of mine. I’m doing Doctors without Borders in the fall, I’ll be leaving the country soon.” 

Gwen blinked. “Wow, that’s...incredible.” she said, feeling small and weedy all of a sudden. Of course this was a temporary job for Kevin Mason. He was driven and dedicated in college, eager to help those in need. He was going to a completely different country to administer aid and she was stuck with a mountain of job rejection letters in the file cabinet of a run down sham of a summer camp. 

“Are you in need of a tour guide?” Kevin asked, snapping Gwen out of her self-deprecating spiral. “I wanna see the rest of your camp!”

“Oh, uh...okay. Um, they should be around here somewhere…” Gwen located the rest of the kids and David moments later. Kevin and David exchanged pleasantries, and the kids all soon started gravitating towards Kevin as he led them from room to room. He was interactive and silly, a natural around kids if there ever was one. Combined with David, they were a strangely well-oiled duo that gave the campers a second wind of pep. Gwen felt a little out of place but tried her best to chime in every now and then. She found herself getting lost in her own thoughts as the tour progressed. 

She broke up with Kevin her second year in college when her self-esteem was at an all time low and she couldn’t keep up with her schoolwork. Burnout was natural, Gwen had expected it, but she wasn’t prepared for the series of anxiety attacks that plagued her at every turn. Her father’s music career was taking off and he went on tour, and living with her mother was unbearable. Gwen had to return home instead of living on campus when she passed out in class and was taken to the hospital. 

Her mother was less than sympathetic, and Gwen prematurely broke it off with Kevin. She wasn’t good enough to be with him, and couldn’t be a good girlfriend with her life in shambles. Thinking about all of that just left Gwen depressed, and she shook those thoughts from her head. She wasn’t in college anymore. She could handle herself a lot better now, even if her job searches proved fruitless and she spent her nights writing trashy fanfiction instead of the Great American Novel that she had been dreaming of doing since middle school  _ oh God... _

“Gwen?” Kevin had nudged her in the arm, peering down at her in concern. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah!” Gwen nodded, smiling. “I’m fine.” 

“Your kids are pretty great.” Kevin complimented, watching as David made them all gather together for yet another photo. “Neil and that one kid with the helmet are pretty smart, huh? It’s always refreshing to get children who are so interested in space and science at the museum.”

“They all have their own little interests.” Gwen agreed, shuffling on her feet. She had almost forgotten how nice Kevin was and it made her heart flutter sporadically. “But I guess they’re cool, when they’re not acting like spawns from the deepest pits of Hell.” 

Kevin laughed, and she was a goner. 


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> gwen's date takes a wrong turn and quartermaster makes an unexpected appearance.

Heading back to the hotel took only a few minutes. Gwen mentally patted herself on the back for picking places to visit that were close to the hotel so they wouldn’t have to haul ass across the city. They had enough time to drop their bags off and get lunch before Shakespeare in the Park, and Gwen made sure that the kids were settled down and eating before she went in her room to start pacing. 

David came into the room in the midst of her pacing and went over to his bed to charge his phone. When Gwen didn’t stop, David looked up from his phone.

“Everything okay?” he asked. 

“I have a date.” Gwen blurted out, a peculiar feeling swirling in her chest. “With Kevin. From the museum? We went to the same college together.” 

“Oh, that’s great. When is it?”

“Uh, well...it’s actually now. It’s like, a lunch date.” 

“You should go!” David said. “You don’t want to be late, right? I can handle the kids.”

“Are you sure?” she cautioned. “I’ll be back in time for that Shakespeare play.” David waved away her concerns. 

“Go on! This is great! The kids won’t be too much trouble.” 

Gwen raced to the bathroom to get ready, grinning fit to burst. She’d have to find a way to thank David properly once she got back. He was so sweet sometimes. Gwen looked at herself in the mirror, her excitement suddenly fading. Her crush on David was going nowhere. He would be adopting Max and would be way too busy as a single parent to think about dating. Yes, this was good. She’d go out with Kevin and have a nice time. There was nothing to worry about. 

Gwen left the hotel with a brief “thanks!” to David and headed out. She agreed to meet Kevin at a nearby cafe, and made it just in time. It was small and quaint, and they sat on the upstairs balcony. Gwen was able to get a great view of the city and quickly found herself at ease. Talking with Kevin was great. He was quick-witted and goofy, and Gwen delighted in making him laugh. They talked about school and all the odd jobs they had and their families back home. Gwen had told him some of the wild stories about camp, which Kevin found absolutely hilarious. 

The food was good, the coffee was better. Kevin held her hand and flirted with her, something that Gwen welcomed whole-heartedly. It had been a long time since a guy flirted with her, which only reminded Gwen of how long she had been going through a sex drought….

Not that she ever actually had sex before, but still. 

At one point, Kevin had broken off a piece of his chocolate croissant and reached over to give it to Gwen when she noticed a mark on his upper arm. 

“Is that a tattoo?” she asked, and Kevin’s eyes flickered to his arm. 

“Oh, yeah. I got it a few years back.”

“Can I see it?”

Kevin hesitated, he seemed to be warring with himself for a minute before smiling apologetically. “Okay, but don’t laugh. I know it looks a little weird, but I like it.” he lifted up his right sleeve and showed her his arm. It was a thick black circle with lines around it, like sun rays. In the middle of the circle was a crescent moon. It was weird, but Gwen couldn’t take her eyes off it. She held out a hand and traced a finger over the image. 

“It’s pretty cool.” she complimented, and Kevin brightened. 

“Thanks! I really like it.” 

“I really like you.” Gwen purred.

They left pretty quickly after that. 

  
  


Gwen felt light on her feet as Kevin led her from the cafe. They weaved through the crowded streets, fingers intertwined with each other. She tried to keep an eye on the time, she knew how much Preston wanted to see this play, but a part of her wished she didn’t have to go. She was having too much fun with Kevin. Hell, she was having too much fun, period. She didn’t have to worry about the kids or David, she didn’t have to run across the city trying to meet every insane demand from the campers. They walked for a few moments, away from the cafe with no discernible destination. Gwen couldn’t stop blushing and smiling, A part of her knew she probably looked ridiculous, but she couldn’t be bothered to care. 

And then she blinked and the world was different. 

_A red sky with black clouds._

_Four eyes were staring at her, Gwen felt trapped in its gaze. Her insides her boiling, there was no connection between her brain and her body._

Gwen blinked one more time and everything was dark. Was she falling asleep or waking up?

Gwen didn’t know how it happened. At first, she thinks she’s dreaming, because one moment she was beaming up at Kevin and the next second she was somewhere completely unfamiliar to her. There was a terrible rocking in her stomach, and her head felt like it was stuck in a vice grip. Black shadows gave way to blurry surroundings. It was dark, Gwen felt her hand brush against something hard...brick...a brick wall? Her thoughts moved at a sluggish pace, it took an incredibly long time for Gwen to open her eyes and keep them from slipping closed. Her insides were burning, the world kept tilting and spinning. Gwen grit her teeth and even that action made a pain burst in her skull. 

“Wh…” forming words was difficult, her tongue felt heavy and clumsy in her mouth. “Where…?”

 _A red sky...was the sky still red?_ It hurt too much for Gwen to crane her neck and look up.

“Gwen.” Kevin’s voice was way too loud, she wanted to close her eyes and sink into the dark. “Don’t move, you don’t look good.” 

Another voice sounded, one much sharper. “Don’t think about touching her.” 

Gwen turned her head to the voice, forcing down the urge to get sick. Though his figure was blurry, Gwen could just make out his form, and found herself staring down at the barrel of Quartermaster’s gun. 

  
  


“Quartermaster?” Gwen slurred, leaning against the wall. She needed something to lean against or she’d topple over. Where was she again? Think, Gwen. Think. Alley...an alleyway. But why? Kevin was gripping her wrist tightly, and she yanked it free, the action causing her to sway dangerously on her feet. “What’s happening?” 

“Step away from her.” Quartermaster growled, his grip tightening on the handle of the gun. Clarity was slowly coming back to her, but Gwen still had trouble putting the pieces together. What the hell was happening? Everything was fine just a few minutes ago. She felt her knees buckling underneath her. 

“What did you do?” she asked, fear and anger simmering in her gut. She didn’t think Kevin had spiked her drink when she was sitting right across from him the whole time in a public place. But why was she feeling so sick? Why couldn’t she remember walking from the cafe and into the alleyway? Why did Quartermaster show up all of a sudden? If Kevin really didn’t pose a threat, why was Quartermaster’s gun drawn and pointing directly at him? Things were not adding up and Gwen was getting scared. 

_Red eyes, terrible red eyes._ Gwen sucked in a breath, trying to shake those memories away. She no longer felt hot, but she was sweating.

“Gwen, I swear, I didn’t do anything.” Kevin implored. He made a move towards her, and Quartermaster advanced. He moved faster than Gwen thought was previously possible, and took her by the elbow. With his gun steady, Quartermaster growled from deep in his throat, looking more intimidating than he already was. 

“Stay away from her,” he said darkly. “I won’t say it again. The next time I catch you around here, I won’t hesitate to put a bullet between your eyes.” Quartermaster pocketed his gun. Gwen was too busy trying to keep her vision from blurring again to see what Kevin’s reaction was. He steered her out of the alleyway and the sunny afternoon had Gwen screwing her eyes shut. The world was too bright for her to handle.

They made it two blocks away before Gwen stopped, the terrible churning in her stomach had ceased, but she still felt sick and uneasy. Sweat had gathered at her temples and she pressed a hand to her forehead. 

“Keep moving, girl.” Quartermaster said, not unkindly. He always sounded gruff and stern to her. He tugged on her elbow, and Gwen started walking again. She didn’t want to talk, her throat was dry, but she forced the words out anyway. 

“What happened?” she asked. She hadn’t seen Quartermaster since the first day they arrived in the city. He had taken off, arriving at the hotel in odd intervals. He never went with them when they explored the city, but Gwen hadn’t been all that concerned. If there was anyone in the world who was more than capable of taking care of themselves, it was Quartermaster. That still didn’t explain why he showed up out of nowhere, however. 

“Was heading back to the hotel.” Quartermaster explained, still holding onto her as they crossed the street. Gwen braved a peek behind her eyelids and found the glare of the sun less oppressive than she did before. “I saw you with that boy, didn’t think anything of it until I saw him lead you into that alley. You kept swaying on your feet, I didn’t have a good feeling so I followed.” 

A lump had formed in Gwen’s throat. “D’you think he was…”

Quartermaster shrugged. Gwen didn’t need to finish that sentence for him to understand. “I don’t know.” he said. “Doesn’t matter now, we’re almost at the hotel, and we’re leaving soon anyway.” Gwen blinked rapidly, she had regained her vision only for hot tears to blind her all over again. The sick feeling had passed every step they took from the alley and back to the hotel, but it did nothing to quell the anxiety raging like a beast inside her gut. 

They stopped at the hotel’s front doors. Quartermaster fixed her with an even stare.

“If that boy comes around again, I’ll make good on that promise.” he said, the hook on his hand gleaming in the sun. 

Gwen blinked, trying hard to dispel her tears. Nothing made sense. She felt lost and helpless, like a child lost in a crowded mall. “Why?” 

Unruffled, Quartermaster patted his back pocket where the gun was held. “I don’t have to have a reason.” was all he said before slinking around the corner of the hotel and away from sight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me? not knowing how to write two people flirting? it's more likely than you think.
> 
> this chapter was a little difficult for me. i thought the abrupt shift in gwen's perspective halfway through was just jarring enough to be interesting without making anyone totally confused. i hope i was able to accomplish that. 
> 
> i wanted to give quartermaster some depth in this story. i'd like to think that for all of his...questionable motives, he won't let anything really bad happen to gwen or david. it's a personal headcannon of mine that quartermaster likes gwen the most out of everyone in camp.  
> enjoy!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> david goes missing and gwen discovers she isn't nearly as over him as she thought she was.

Gwen washed her face in the bathroom mirror, trying to get a good look at herself. She no longer felt hot, which was good. Her balance was only a little unsteady, but she felt strong enough to walk without the fear of falling over. She inspected her eyes in the mirror. Her pupils weren't dilated, there was no strange taste in her mouth. Gwen managed to dodge any of the campers before they could ask where she had been. Checking her phone, Gwen found that not a lot of time had passed since her lunch date. She left the bathroom and sat on her bed, burying her face in her hands. 

It was just her luck that she’d manage to have a perfectly pleasant evening with someone she hadn’t seen in years only to be drugged and dragged away into some dark alley. Part of her thought about going to the hospital, but she honestly felt fine. If Gwen was being honest with herself, she didn’t think Kevin drugged her at all. No, it was something else. Something she couldn’t put her finger on just yet. But whenever she closed her eyes, Kevin’s strange tattoo was branded there.

The door opened and shut softly. David walked in, nearly walking straight past Gwen before he glanced over at her defeated position. Gwen could already see worry clout itself across his face without even having to look at him, and prepared herself for a barrage of questions. 

“Gwen, what’s wrong?” 

“Had a bad date.” she mumbled. Lying took too much effort right now. She didn’t care if David knew the details, they were leaving soon anyway. What the hell did it matter? 

David looked momentarily unsure of himself before walking over and taking a seat beside her. The mattress dipped under his weight and Gwen could feel their shoulders touching. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” David ventured and Gwen sighed and shrugged, finally looking up.

“Everything was going fine,” she started, her shoulders slumping. “We were at a cafe. We were talking and catching up on old times, it was perfect.” Gwen swallowed. “We left the cafe after a while and...I don’t really remember what happened, but the next thing I knew, I was in an alleyway sick to my stomach.” 

David’s eyebrows furrowed. “But that doesn’t make sense…” he said, and Gwen could see him trying to put the pieces together. “If everything was going as well as you said then…?” she watched as it all clicked into place and his expression was torn between horror and pity. “ _ Oh _ ...oh, Gwen…”

Just hearing him say her name in that soft sweet way was enough to have Gwen on the brink of tears again. She was such an idiot. How in the world could she move on from David when he said her name like that? 

“You’re not...are you hurt?” 

Gwen shook her head. “No. It was pretty bad at first, I had a hard time talking and I couldn’t stand up straight, but Quartermaster was there.” David gave her a puzzled look and Gwen shrugged. “Yeah, I don’t know why either. He led me back here and threatened to shoot my date in the head. I feel  _ fine _ , y’know, physically...but I just...yeah. It’s...a lot.” she finished lamely, suddenly losing her ability to properly articulate herself. 

A moment of silence lapsed between them. Gwen wondered what David even thought of her now. Probably that she was stupid. Part of her knew that David would never say something like that, but she was feeling pretty self-deprecating at the moment. Was she that desperate for something different that she ignored all of the warning signs? Gwen did not have the energy to pick apart her earlier interactions with Kevin right now. All she wanted to do was curl up in a ball and sleep until it was time to leave this awful city. 

“Gwen, I’m so sorry…”

“Don’t beat yourself up, David. It wasn’t your fault.” 

“Well, yeah but still! He took advantage of you! That’s…” David struggled to come up with an adequate word before he turned his gaze to her. “Wait, should we take you to a hospital?” 

“No, I’m fine, really.” She didn’t know how to tell him about the tattoo and the gap in her memory. Something about that didn’t sit right with her, and she wasn’t going to say anything until she could properly understand what exactly happened with that. She could still see that tattoo crystal clear in the back of her mind, more vivid than the blanket she was fixating on so she wouldn’t have to see the devastated expression on David’s face.

“That’s really fucked up.” 

_ What? _

Gwen turned to face David, beyond startled at the dark glint in his eyes and the anger etched across his features. In all her time working with David, not once did she ever hear him curse. Even when he was around adults he still kept a civil tongue. He was such a boy scout in that way. Seeing him angry was also a first. In the back of her mind, Gwen knew David was capable of getting angry just like any other normal human being, but it was still surprising. He was always so chipper and optimistic, determined to never let life knock him down for long. If he ever was frustrated or angry it usually took on the form of tears, which made him look even more like a kicked puppy. 

Gwen noted that David was the type of person to bottle things up and explode when things got to be too much. She didn’t know what happened to him growing up to make him think that you weren’t supposed to feel negative emotions, but Gwen was certain that if anyone pushed David far enough he would probably murder someone. Right now, this was the angriest she had ever seen him, and Gwen wasn’t ashamed to admit that he actually looked pretty intimidating...

Fuck, he was hot. 

Gwen keeps her face relatively blank while she mentally bludgeons her emotions with a metal baseball bat, screaming at them to  _ fuck off _ because she was  _ not _ about to think about that right now!  _ PLEASE! s _ he bellowed internally.  _ PLEASE shut the fuck up! I’m begging you! Now is not the time-- _

“I’m going to speak with him.”

“What?” Gwen can’t believe what she’s hearing. “No, David, that’s not--”

“Don’t say it isn't important, Gwen.” David interrupted. “Because it is. How in the world can I just sit by and do nothing when this guy hurt you?” 

Gwen stood up now, trying to ignore the pounding in her chest. “David, listen to me. That’s very sweet of you, really, but I’m okay! I genuinely think Quartermaster scared him off. We’ll be leaving pretty soon, right? There’s no need to go through all of that trouble.” he still didn’t look convinced, and Gwen reached out to touch his shoulder. “Seriously, David. I’m  _ fine _ . Don’t worry about it, I’m not.” 

He held her gaze for a moment or two. Gwen stared right back. David was a lot more perceptive than most people gave him credit for, and one thing she was not going to do was let him know how scared she was hours before. He didn’t have to know any of that. Clearly she must’ve overlooked something when it came to Kevin, but it wasn’t the end of the world, right? Quartermaster was there, he made sure she was safe. 

_And if he didn’t show up?_ _What would you have done if Quartermaster didn’t come around when he did? Where would you be instead?_

Gwen suppressed a sigh of annoyance. Thinking about the “what-if’s” didn’t matter because she was fine. She was. Everyone was safe, and soon she could put this whole headache behind her when they returned to camp. David still didn’t look happy, but eventually he gave in with a sigh. 

“Okay, Gwen. If you’re sure.”

“I’am.” she nodded and briefly turned to check her phone. “Preston’s play should start pretty soon. We better get the kids ready.” 

Gwen was surprised to find that the play really wasn’t all that bad. She still found Shakespeare incredibly boring, but the actors were good. Gwen wished she had paid more attention, but she couldn’t help her thoughts from wandering. Despite how many times she assured David that she was fine, Gwen couldn’t help but fixate on her date throughout the duration of the play. She could still feel that terrible nausea in her stomach and the foggy haze in her brain. The fear had yet to go away. 

She’d have to thank Quartermaster somehow when she got the time, but she hadn’t seen him since he guided her back to the hotel. Gwen should’ve questioned him a little more about what he saw, but she had been pretty out of it. When the play was over, Preston was over the moon. He clapped harder than anyone in the crowd and insisted Gwen take him down to talk to the actors. She stood by while Preston shook hands with the actors and got their autographs. The sky was darkening slowly, and Gwen was thinking about dinner when someone tugged on the hem of her shirt. 

Nerris was peering up at her, eyes round behind her black glasses. “I’m tired, Gwen.” she said, stifling a yawn. 

“I know. We’ll be going back to the hotel soon, we can eat then.” Nerris gave her a sleepy smile and Gwen had to resist the urge to pat her head or ruffle her hair. Nerris wasn’t as much of a hell raiser as the rest of the campers were, she preferred to play with her stuffed animals and go on imaginary quests, caught up in her own little world. Gwen could respect that, it just made the little girl that much more tolerable. The fact that Nerris was, by public opinion, extremely cute, didn’t hurt either. 

Once Preston was done getting autographs, Gwen managed to lead them from the park and back to the hotel in under ten minutes. Nerris was swaying on her feet by then, and Gwen had to take her hand as they walked. The venture to the hotel was made in relative silence, save for a few campers murmuring among themselves and Preston showing off his autograph book to anyone who showed even the slightest bit of interest (Gwen had to stop Max from taking it and chucking it into traffic, knowing full well that Preston was just insane enough to run after it and risk getting hit by a car).

“Gwen?” Nerris said, yawning again. “Do people have red eyes?” 

Gwen bit back a smart remark and answered honestly. “Uh, no. Where the hell did you get that from?” 

Nerris shrugged, Gwen couldn’t tell if the expression on her face was irritability because she was tired or if it was something else. Nerris stayed quiet for a long moment before speaking again. “He had red eyes, the guy from the museum.” All of Gwen’s thoughts ground to a halt as she stopped. They had made it into the hotel, and the rest of the kids were gathered near the elevator. 

“What did you say?”

Red eyes. A dark sky. 

Nerris appeared uncomfortable now, and she fiddled with the cloak that was constantly draped around her shoulders. “His eyes were red. I only saw it for a brief moment, when we were all looking through telescopes, but I saw it.” her voice was small, and she gave another hapless shrug. “I just thought I’d ask.” Kevin’s tattoo flashed in Gwen’s mind, and she swallowed. She had no idea if Nerris was telling the truth or not, but that seemed like a weird thing to lie about. What was she supposed to say to that?

In the end, all Gwen could do was tug Nerris along to the elevators. “Don’t worry about it.” she assured her, despite her mind racing. “Let’s get you something to eat.”

When the kids were eating dinner, Gwen went looking for David. As thanks for watching the campers when she went on her date, she offered to take over getting them to the Shakespeare play. She expected to see him lying in their room, but he was gone. Gwen scoured the hotel for him, but for some reason, she couldn’t find him at all. She also couldn’t find Quartermaster, which wasn’t as concerning. 

Gwen did another lap around the hotel and found the hotel owner standing at the front desk, glasses perched on his nose as he flipped through papers. Gwen still didn’t like talking to him but she approached the desk anyway. She rapped on the wood of the desk with her knuckles to get his attention, trying to remember his name. What was it, again? Harry? Henry? 

“Hey, sir. Hello.” Gwen said awkwardly, clearing her throat. “Uh, have you seen my co-counselor, David? He’s tall, red hair? Wears a yellow bandanna?” Gwen spotted his name tag pinned to his shirt. Henry. Ha, she knew it was one of those. 

Henry’s dark eyebrows furrowed in concentration, lips pursed in thought. “Is he that twink that came with you on your first day here?”

“He’s not a twink...but yes, that was him. Have you seen him anywhere?” 

Henry drummed his fingers on the table. “Uh, I think one of my employees saw him. Hold on a second.” he left the front desk and disappeared around the corner. While she waited, Gwen pulled out her phone and dialed David. It rang for a few seconds before picking up. 

“Davi--”

_ “This is David!”  _ his perky voice sounded.  _ “I can’t come to the phone right now, but leave a message and I’ll be sure to get back to you! Have a great day!”  _

Damn. Gwen huffed a sigh. “David, this is Gwen. Answer your damn phone, okay? I’m not about to get the kids to bed by myself and help them pack for tomorrow.” She ended the call just as Henry came back. 

“One of the ladies at the front desk said he left a while ago. He didn’t say where he was going though.”

Gwen let out a groan. She thanked Henry and went back upstairs. With David gone and Quartermaster...somewhere, it was up to her to make sure everyone took showers, got their bags packed for tomorrow and into bed at a proper time. It took nearly an hour and a half because Ered was suffering from cramps and wouldn’t move out of her bed. Nikki kept trying to escape out the window and Max was skating through the halls. It was as if all of their chaotic energy had burst through at once and Gwen was caught in the middle of it. After much running around, cursing and a monetary bribe from Max, she was finally able to put them all to bed before she collapsed into her own. 

Gwen was never having kids. Never. They were terrible, loud monsters with absolutely no sympathy. Gwen couldn’t stand them. Thoroughly exhausted, she took a quick shower and went back to bed. She’d pack her bags tomorrow, she couldn’t care less about doing it now. In a few minutes, Gwen was fast asleep before she could think of anything else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have everything written out in regards to this story, and i'm starting to regret making this 22 chapters. reading over the entire story, extending it to 22 chapters seems way too long. idk, i'll figure it out. enjoy!
> 
> P.S. david IS sweet, he IS caring and he WILL fuck you up if you mess with his favorite co-counselor.


	6. Chapter 6

David’s head was pounding. There was a terrible ringing in his ears that beat against his skull, and pain flashed behind his eyes. The world was dark and gave way to blurry shadows. He had a hard time grasping his surroundings. He clearly remembered leaving the hotel and heading to the museum. Gwen told him not to speak with Kevin, and he hated lying to her, but that simmering anger in his gut wouldn’t go away no matter what he did. He couldn’t just ignore everything she had told him.

Gwen acted like she didn’t care, but David could see right through her sometimes. She was upset and embarrassed. More importantly, she was afraid. That’s what made him so angry. It would’ve been different if the date had gone wrong under normal circumstances, there was nothing normal about Gwen being unable to remember how she got into an alleyway. There was nothing normal about her being unable to walk and feeling sick to her stomach. If Quartermaster hadn’t been there, David figured she most likely would’ve gone missing. Just thinking of that had made David lose his head, and before he knew it, he was storming out of the hotel without a second thought.

His memory was murky after that, and the pain pressing in his head only got worse as his surroundings came to him. He was sitting on a floor, and he tried to move his legs. He couldn’t spread them, something tight was bound around his knees and ankles. His shoulders hurt, and David found that he couldn’t move his arms either. He had been tied up. A spike of panic shot through him. 

His heart began to pick up speed painfully and he willed it to slow down. A gag was over his mouth, and David tried not to start panicking. Try as he might, David couldn’t remember how he got here. There was no indication of the time, but judging at how stiff his arms and legs were, he must’ve been tied up for hours. David sighed through his nose and shut his eyes. He just needed to stay calm. Gwen was bound to know he was missing and would come looking for him at some point. 

Gwen...David wondered if she was okay. He couldn’t feel his phone in his pocket, and with how tightly bound his hands were, he doubted he could free himself and call her. It was a shame, because he really needed to hear her voice at the moment. Gwen had a tendency to reel him in and calm him down. He didn’t open his eyes, picturing her eyes and the special smile she reserved for him at the rarest of times…

A creak sounded, like the opening of a door. David’s eyes snapped open. 

In the dark, he could see the silhouette of someone walking into the room. Immediately, David steeled himself, chest clenching as his heart started back on its wild rhythm. The figure walked over and stood right above him, but David still couldn’t make out the features of his face. 

“I see you’re awake.” Kevin’s voice slipped into the dark, and David shivered. Kevin’s hand reached out and patted the side of David’s face, causing him to jerk in surprise. “I’ll admit, you startled me when you decided to corner me earlier today. Were you thinking of protecting Gwen, hm?

Pathetic. Humans can be incredibly stupid when they need to be. It was almost too easy trapping her, if that old bastard with the gun hadn’t shown up to ruin everything…” Kevin trailed off with a frustrated sigh, giving a tired sort of laugh that made David’s skin crawl amid the rage reigniting in his gut. “You, on the other hand, you put up a pretty good fight back there.” Fight? David frowned as much as he was able to with the gag in his mouth. When did he…? “I wasn’t expecting that, but it doesn’t matter.”

A pair of eyes flashed in front of him, like two blooming cardinals. David felt as though he were falling into them. Kevin was right by his ear. “You’ll all be dead soon.”

David felt himself slipping back into the dark. 

It was almost night when Gwen came back to the hotel. The day had been relatively normal, but a game of indoor laser tag had ended in disaster when Space kid had fallen and sprained his wrist. Gwen had freaked out at first, because the last thing she wanted was for a kid to get hurt on her supervision. Thankfully, Space kid wasn’t hurt that badly, but he did need a splint. He didn’t even cry about it, and remained cheerful even when they left the hospital. Gwen felt incredibly guilty for not paying close enough attention to him, and berated herself all the way back to the hotel.

She didn’t think they would still be here. Gwen had awoken expecting to get on the bus and head back to camp, but Quartermaster appeared and said that the bus needed repairs so they would be staying an extra day. Gwen thought it was really weird that the bus just suddenly stopped working the day they were supposed to leave, but Quartermaster had fixed her with a look and simply repeated himself. His tone brokered no room for argument and Gwen left it at that. She wasn’t ashamed to admit that Quartermaster scared the fuck out of her most of the time. 

Unfortunately, this left her scrambling for something to entertain the kids with, and decided to take them to play laser tag. She still hadn’t seen David, but she had been so busy getting the kids breakfast and then scouring the town for something to distract them that she didn’t even think of him until she and Space kid arrived back at the hotel. When Gwen headed to her own room, she was startled to find Quartermaster sitting on her bed, peering at the door as if he were waiting for her. A heavy book was sitting beside him.

“Woah, Quartermaster, what are you doing here?” Gwen asked. “Also, why the hell do you just keep popping up out of nowhere? Where have you been this entire trip?”

Quartermaster waved away her questions with his good hand. “How long has it been since you’ve seen David?” he grumbled, and Gwen frowned in concentration.

“Uh, not since...yesterday, I think? I saw him before I took the kids to the play.” Gwen’s frown deepened. “Wait, has he come back to the hotel at all today?”

Quartermaster shook his head no. 

“Has he called?”

“No.” 

Instantly, a knot formed in Gwen’s stomach. She checked her phone and saw that David never returned her call. She quickly tried again, and it went straight to voicemail. Okay, that was weird,  _ really _ weird. David always answered her. Gwen leaned against the door and took a fortifying breath. Alright, there was no reason to start panicking. He was probably fine. David was a lot more resourceful than she was, and he wasn’t stupid. Despite how accident-prone he could be, he’d never willingly do something to get himself into trouble. But where on earth could he be all this time…

The answer hits Gwen like a punch in the stomach, leaving her winded. He went to go speak to Kevin! Of course! Gwen slaps a hand to her forehead, her other hand curling into a fist.

_ “Son of a bitch!”  _ she swears loudly through clenched teeth. She slams her fist on to the wood of the door. Idiot! He was such a fucking idiot! She  _ told _ him to let it go and not do anything. But David never listened, not when it came to her well-being, he was always going above and beyond for her.

Gwen quickly made up her mind. “I’m going to go look for him.” she said, and turned to leave. 

“Hold it.” Quartermaster’s voice halts her in her tracks. When Gwen turns back around, that same book is on Quartermaster’s lap, and he beckons her over. Gwen crosses the room and sits down beside him. The book was big, with thick yellowed pages and different colored tabs in sporadic areas. 

“What is this?” Gwen asks, raising an eyebrow. Quartermaster flipped through it quickly, but she could see words crossed out and brief inscriptions on the margins of the pages. There are droplets of what look like blood that Gwen doesn’t even begin to question. She feels it's better if she doesn’t know.

“'S not important.” he mumbles and comes across the page he’d been looking for. “Look here.”

Half of the page is covered with an illustration of a large beast. It looked like a giant bird, with a long beak and rows of sharp teeth. It had four pairs of eyes and talons, but that’s not what made Gwen’s heart stop.

In the middle of its forehead was a lined circle. A crescent moon was in the center of it. 

Kevin’s tattoo.

“It’s called the Rotwalker.” Quartermaster explained impassively. “It comes from another plane of existence, one far away from Earth. The Rotwalker can travel from one plane to another, and has picked Earth as it’s target. Tonight, it will feast upon the souls of humans and shed its original form for a newer one--”

“Wait.” Gwen gets to her feet, she holds her hands up as if to physically stop the conversation. “That--that doesn’t…I’m sorry Quartermaster but I don’t believe you. I can’t believe any of that is real.”

Unfazed, Quartermaster points his hook to the page. “Says so right here in the book.”

“Did you get that from Nerris or something? She has books like that, encyclopedias of fantasy creatures and different worlds…”

“This isn’t some meager children’s book.” Quartermaster cuts through her rambling sternly. “I saw the tattoo on that boy’s arm when I cornered him in the alleyway. I thought it looked familiar, so I went through here to check. It’s real.” 

Gwen is shaking her head. She can’t wrap her head around anything Quartermaster is saying. It’s too ridiculous, it’s too much. She honestly feels like he's joking with her, even if the look on his face says otherwise. “No, it’s not.” she says, ignoring his steely glare. “You’re making this up to...fuck with me, or something! I’m sorry but…” a laugh bubbles out of her, light and anxious and disbelieving. “that’s crap, Quartermaster. It’s bullshit.” it comes out harsher than Gwen would’ve liked, but she doesn’t apologize. The world is moving too fast for her to catch up, something is scraping at her insides, begging to be set free. 

Silence falls between them. Quartermaster stands up and places the open book back onto her bed. 

“Suit yourself.” he says plainly, as if he couldn’t care less if she believed him. Gwen watches, dumbfounded, as he leaves and shuts the door behind him. She sits down weakly onto the bed, her knees giving up on her. Light-headed and shaky, she puts her face in her hands, elbows balancing on her lap. Gwen stays hunched over like that for a long time, so long that she doesn’t hear her phone buzz. 

Three loud knocks jolt Gwen out of her stupor and she strides to the door. Her hopes are already lifting. It was David, it had to be. She’d chew him out for talking to Kevin and he’d apologize, then they’d both settle into bed and watch movies like they used to. Quartermaster would get the bus fixed, and they'd _finally_ go back to camp...

Another knock sounds, and Gwen opens the door to see Mr. Campbell in the doorway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm sorry for not uploading yesterday. i was really sick and spent most of the day in bed. i still don't feel great, but i wanted to upload this chapter anyway. thank you for reading!


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> gwen and mr. campbell have a heart to heart.

Gwen’s face visibly falls, and Mr. Campbell rolls his eyes. 

“Don’t look so happy to see me.” he quips and makes his way into the room before Gwen can say anything. “Quartermaster called me a few hours ago, I made my way over here once I got finished gambl--er, gaming. Right. Playing video games.” 

“You’re full of shit, Campbell.” Gwen says, and closes the door with a bit more force than necessary. She doesn’t want to talk to him. She wants to see David. “Why did he call you?”

“Woah.” Mr. Campbell is looking at the book. “What the fuck is this thing? Some weird, eldritch horror? It looks like something from one of Lovecraft’s more elaborate wet dreams.” 

Gwen ignores that statement completely. “If you’re just here to be annoying, could you leave? I have something important to attend to.”

“Yeah, like what? Saving David from...whatever this thing is?” Mr. Campbell tilts his head, scrutinizing the paper more closely. “The...rotwalker? Dear God.” 

“How do you know about that?” Gwen demanded, feeling her temper flare. She was not about to get roped up in this nonsense again.

“Quartermaster briefed me on the situation when I was in the car. He said David got kidnapped by some supernatural monster. For a minute, I thought he was taking cocaine or something, figured I’d stop by to make sure he wasn’t in some sort of like, coke-fueled rage or whatever. Trust me, those things are a  _ bitch _ .” 

Gwen pinches the bridge of her nose, shutting her eyes tightly. She takes three deep breaths in and tries to compose herself. 

“David hasn’t been kidnapped, not by another person or whatever that fucking thing is. He’s just busy, or lost, and I’m going to look for him.” 

Mr. Campbell looks up from the book and addresses her. “You sound angry.” he observes. “I thought you’d be more concerned. Isn’t he like, your boyfriend or something?”

Gwen flushes down to the roots of her hair. “No! We’re just friends!”

“But you like him right?” there’s a teasing tilt in Mr. Campbell’s voice that Gwen can’t stand. “I can tell. I know the look of a horny woman when I see one.”

“I’m literally going to fucking murder you.” Gwen snaps darkly. “It’s not funny, You’re drug-smuggling friend who runs the hotel is going to find your corpse stuffed in an air vent.” 

“Oh, please.” Mr. Campbell rolls his eyes. “You’re not fooling anyone Gwen. If you don’t hurry your “friend” is going to end up in that thing’s stomach.”

“I’m not going anywhere.” Gwen decides suddenly. “I can’t take this. Everyone here is smoking meth, that’s the only explanation for this--” she waves a hand in the air, gesturing to Campbell and the book. “--crap!” to prove her point, Gwen strides over and shuts the book firmly before dropping it to the floor and kicking it underneath the bed. She honestly feels like this book has nothing to do with her. Now that it’s out of sight, she actually feels ten times better. There was nothing to worry about.

“You’re a coward.” 

Gwen freezes for a few seconds before turning on her heel to face Mr. Campbell. “What?”

“I said you’re a coward.” Mr. Campbell is no longer smiling, in fact, he appears almost stern. “You’re seriously going to just leave David to die like that?” 

“Oh, don’t you dare.” Gwen points a warning finger at him. “Don’t you talk to me about being a coward, jackass. You’re  _ literally _ a felon. The FBI is probably looking for you right now!” 

“My illegal activities don’t make me a coward, Gwen. At worst, it makes me immoral. And we’re not talking about me, we’re talking about you.”

“We’re not talking about anything because you’re wrong and this whole thing is stupid.” Gwen knows this isn’t a valid response, but she doesn’t care. “You don’t even know if Quartermaster is right or not! It’s  _ Quartermaster  _ for goodness sake. He’s not...stable!”

“Maybe to you it sounds like bullshit, but I’ve known Quartermaster for a pretty long time.” Mr. Campbell says defensively. “Trust me, I’ve seen a lot of shit, and he’s always been right. He’s right about this, too. You just don’t want to accept it because you're afraid.”

“You don’t know anything about me!”

“I know you’re acting like a scared little girl.” Mr. Campbell bites back. She’s never been on the receiving end of his anger before, Gwen feels a little shocked. But surprise is slowly giving way to rage. “For all of the shit I’ve pulled in my years, the one thing I never did was run off when I had the opportunity to do something. You have the opportunity to save David and all you’re doing is hiding in here.” 

“Shut up!” Gwen exclaims, her face feels hot and her heart is thumping erratically in her chest. “Like you even care about what happens to David! The guy practically worships the ground you walk on and you’re constantly taking advantage of him. David talks about you like you invented the fucking stars in the sky and I  _ know _ you couldn’t care less. This little act of yours, this field trip you paid for? It doesn’t mean shit. David may think you’re turning over a new leaf, but I know you’re only doing it for some selfish reason. All you care about is yourself!”

“You think I don’t know that?!” Mr. Campbell is yelling now, voice booming so loud Gwen is sure the campers can hear. “That’s why I’m here, Gwen! I’m trying to make things right for once.” he sighs, body sagging, and runs a hand over his face. Looking at him properly, Gwen notices how...old Campbell looks. There are bags under his eyes, his hair is standing on end from all the times he ran his fingers through them. “Look, I may feel a _small_ amount of guilt for, y’know, scamming a bunch of children. I wanted to fix that, which is why I suggested you guys go on this field trip in the first place. I didn’t think some monster from another dimension would come and wreak havoc over the human race!” Mr. Campbell sighs, tired and irritable. “I don’t know why David has so much faith in me. He wants to see the good in people so badly that it’s blinded him from seeing how shitty of a person I’ve been for...most of my life. But if someone like him still thinks I can do good, then shouldn’t I at least try? I mean, fuck, I’ve taken enough from that boy already.” The silence is heavy, pressing down on both of them so hard that it’s a tangible weight on Gwen’s shoulders. Mr. Campbell gives a harsh laugh. “Fucking hell, what’re you and David turning me into?” he mutters. Gwen wants to snap at him again, wants to push his buttons, and finds herself stunned into silence.

This is the most genuine she’s ever seen him. His confidence is gone, but his defenses are still up. He looks like a man trying to hold onto what little pride he has left and is failing miserably. Mr. Campbell has laid himself bare, possibly for the first time in his entire adult life, and that alone shoots down whatever snide remark Gwen wanted to voice.

A knock breaks the quiet to pieces. Gwen, still a little gobsmacked by Mr. Campbell’s speech, moves to open the door. She meets the angry, worried glare of Max, his face twisted in a deep snarl. 

“Where the fuck is David?” he growls. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is a short chapter, i know. the next one will be a bit longer.  
> originally, i thought mr. campbell was a little ooc here and i rewrote his talk with gwen about three times before settling on this version. i was hoping to convey him going from a terrible person to someone who was...morally ambiguous, for lack of a better word. doing good is still hard for him, but he tries for david's sake if nothing else. enjoy!


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the search for david begins.

Quartermaster is mixing some weird concoction in the bathroom sink when Gwen enters. Ered complained that Quartermaster had holed himself up in their bathroom and wouldn’t leave no matter how many times she knocked. Gwen didn’t know what exactly he was making, but he wasn’t doing drugs, which she figured was a plus. 

“What’re you doing?” she asked. “That stuff is making my eyes burn.” 

“It’s to kill the Rotwalker.” Quartermaster didn’t look up from his work. “We don’t have a whole lot of time if we want to kill this thing.” 

Gwen shifted on her feet, feeling uneasy. She wanted to object. She wanted to tell him that she still wasn’t going, because none of this was real. But a deep part of her had already decided, she would risk everything for David. She hated it. She didn’t care. “What’s it do?”

“It’s a potion. It burns the Rotwalker down to the bone.”

“Okay? Uh, what is it made of?” 

Quartermaster hummed. “You don’t want to know. Just don’t drink it, or get it on your clothes. Or sniff it. You should wear gloves.” 

Gwen nodded. Right. Of course. 

“How many times do I have to repeat myself?” Max demanded, stomping up towards her. “I asked where David was.” 

“He’s been taken by an interdimensional monster.” Quartermaster explained, screwing a lid on what looked like a vial in his hands. 

“What?”

“Hush, it’s nothing.” Gwen interjected, and pointedly matched Max’s withering glare with a blank look of her own. “I’m going to find him.” 

“I get to go, too.” 

“Hell no. You’re staying here with everyone else.”

Max snorted. “The fuck I’am. You’re taking me with you.”

Gwen sighed. “No, I’m not. You’re staying here and that’s the end of it. There’s nothing you can threaten me with to blackmail me into taking you along.”

A bottle was shoved in her face. “It’s done.” Quartermaster said. “Be careful with it.” It wasn’t a vial at all. 

“This looks like a perfume bottle.” Gwen observed. 

“I needed something big. You’ll need to douse the Rotwalker with it in order to kill it. A few flicks won’t cut it.” Quartermaster moved past them and Gwen put the bottle in her purse before shouldering it. She moved past Ered, who raced to the bathroom and shut the door behind her. Ignoring Max practically on her heels, Gwen dialed David again and bit her bottom lip when it went to voicemail again. 

“Gwen, fuck, listen to me!” Max grabbed her by the wrist. “I need to come with you, okay?”

“Max--”

Max tugged her down with a surprising amount of force, and she had no choice but to bend down and comply. She was practically nose to nose with him, and she could see something glisten in his eyes. “Please, Gwen.” Max pleaded. “This isn’t just me being stubborn, alright? I  _ have _ to come with you.  _ Please _ .” They stared at each other for a moment. Gwen thought back to her first night here in the hotel with David, and the passionate way he spoke about Max. As much as Gwen detested the idea, she knew Max needed this. 

Several moments passed, and Gwen sighed.

“Fine.” she growled. “But you better listen to everything I say and don’t do anything stupid.” 

Nikki and Neil wanted to come with her as well, and Gwen finally had to put her foot down. She wasn’t going to bring the entire camp along on this rescue trip. They snapped and pouted, but Gwen was adamant. She threatened to skin Mr. Campbell alive if he didn’t look after the kids properly, and he gave her his word that they would stay safe until she got back. 

Quartermaster had given her an axe to arm herself with. He had taken it from out of the school bus and promised her that she would need it. Mr. Campbell had given her a pistol, digging it out from the glove compartment of the camp car. Gwen didn’t think she was going to need both (she didn’t even know how to fire a gun for goodness sake), but took them anyway. Mr. Campbell told her to take the camp car and don’t come back until David was with them.

Gwen tried to brace herself with the fact that she was really doing this. She still wanted to refute Quartermaster and content herself with thinking that this was all some sort of weird, elaborate prank, but it was becoming glaringly obvious that all of this was indeed real. Thinking back to what Nerris said only seemed to seal the deal for her. Gwen really wished she wasn’t doing this, it was too much to process all at once. 

“Gwen.” she turned around to see Quartermaster regarding her with his usual blank expression. He had ripped a paper out of the book and let her see it. “The Rotwalker isn’t the only thing you’ll be facing up against. It has the ability to create others, sort of like...offspring.”

Gwen reared back in disgust. “Ugh, that sounds disgusting.”

“It can create a hivemind, of sorts, if it manages to get you. Once you kill the Rotwalker, it’s minions should die with it, since they’re connected. Be careful.” 

She heaved a sigh. Minions. Hivemind. Fucking fantastic. Gwen got into the car, Max took the passenger seat (she couldn’t really tell him much at this point. He kept throwing glares her way and she was too exhausted to fight him on it. She made sure his seatbelt was on before driving away). 

At first, Gwen wasn’t sure where to look. But if David went to talk with Kevin, then she’d have to go to the museum first. That wouldn’t take long, and Gwen kept a white knuckle grip on the steering wheel as she weaved through traffic. She didn’t even have a fully formed plan, and the closer she got to the museum the more her anxiety was mounting. It made driving difficult because her hands were shaking.

_ Get a hold on yourself, Gwen.  _ she thought.  _ You’re gonna be facing some tough shit in a few minutes, you can’t have an anxiety attack right now.  _

“You’re the worst, you know that?” Max began.

Ah, insults. Lovely. She was looking for a distraction. “Thank you, Max.” she replied sarcastically. “You truly are a beacon of hope in these tough times.” 

“I’m being serious, Gwen. None of this would’ve happened if you hadn’t gone on that dumb date.” Gwen took her eyes briefly off the road to give him an incredulous look. 

“What? How did you--”

“David said you were going out with a friend the same day he left.” Max crossed his arms and leaned back in the passenger seat. “He was so jealous I thought he was going to get a nosebleed or something. Of all the people in the world he gets a crush on and it has to be you. Now he went and got himself kidnapped by your monster boyfriend.”

Gwen’s brain had a hard time getting past the “jealousy and crush” remark to be offended by the rest. For some reason, she didn’t respond to any of this, and Max didn’t appear to notice. Something in her told her that Max needed to vent right now. She wasn’t going to interrupt that. 

“You know he’s trying to adopt me, right? He can’t do that if he’s dead.” Max sounded angry now, and Gwen hummed. 

“I know, Max.”

“Do you?” he snapped. “Because you clearly don't. I heard your little yelling match with Campbell, by the way. Funny how you accuse him of being selfish when you’re pretty much the same way. David’s been missing for nearly two days and you decide just now to start looking for him? He’s covering your ass even when we’re not at camp, and you're still too busy worrying about yourself.

David is the only chance I have to get out of that shitty house with parents who couldn’t give two shits about me, and all of that could be ruined because of you. If he dies, I lose a...a dad, and the rest lose a camp counselor. That’s on you, Gwen. You better fucking know that.” 

Thoroughly exhausted, Max looks to the window, sniffing. Gwen doesn’t outwardly react to any of it, it takes monumental effort to keep her face blank and her eyes from watering. Of course, she knew that. She knew all of it. The severity of the situation wasn’t lost on her but it still hurt hearing it from Max. 

Gwen has to remember that Max is ten years old and still sleeps with a stuffed toy animal. He’s scared and upset and was starting to come around to the idea of David being a father figure. David was the first person Max was willing to open himself up to, and the thought of it suddenly being taken away from him had shaken him down to his core. So he got angry and started lashing out. Gwen needed to break it down for herself in a detached sort of way so her eyes wouldn’t start watering. 

It all made sense, and it hurt like hell. 

“All done?” she asked, and marveled at the way she was able to keep her voice steady.

“Yeah.”

Seven minutes later, they pull into the museum parking lot. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i know it seems like people are ganging up on gwen in this chapter and the previous one, but it's important for her development as the story progresses. max's attitude towards gwen will be a little hard to swallow for these next couple of chapters, but it's all leading up to something big for the both of them. 
> 
> story aside, how have you all been? i hope you're all staying safe. the world is big and terrible and frightening today, despite how beautiful it is outside. my country makes me tired and it's hard to remain optimistic about the state of the world. i don't want these chapter notes to be negative, because i'm sure you guys don't want to hear me complain, but goodness, am i exhausted. however, i'll do my best to be positive and keep writing.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the search for david continues and things take a dangerous turn at the mall.

Gwen puts the gun in her back pocket and takes the axe. The night air is cool on her skin, and she glances up at the sky. She sends her wish to the stars.  _ Let David be okay. Please let me find him.  _ They take two steps away from the car when the back doors open and Gwen swivels around quickly. Nikki and Neil had climbed out of the backseat. Nikki was giving them a fierce, determined stare, hands on her hips as if she were prepared for an argument. Neil at least had the audacity to look sheepish, unable to meet their eyes as he scratched at the back of his head. 

“What the fuck!” Gwen and Max both swear at the same time. 

“What the hell are you two doing here?!” Gwen exclaimed. “I told you both to stay at the hotel!” 

“We got into the car and hid under the back seats.” Nikki said, completely unabashed. “Punish us if you want, but we don’t leave a pack member behind!” 

Gwen turned to Neil and the boy visibly flinched before attempting to put on a brave face. “We-we wanted to help, too.”

Gwen felt a roaring headache coming on. “Look, you two don’t understand--”

“We’re not going anywhere, Gwen.” the fear on Neil’s face melted away to a firm resolve. “We’re bringing David home.” 

She didn’t respond for a long moment. She had half a mind to make them all get back in the car and drive them back to the hotel. But they didn’t have much time to waste. It was late, the museum was closed. If she was going to look for David, she couldn’t afford to keep driving back and forth. 

“I hate you both.” Gwen eventually replied, already striding towards the museum. “Keep up and don’t run off.” 

Gwen didn’t even think about the alarms going off in the museum because she was an idiot, but to her complete surprise, she found that the back door of the museum was open and ripped off its hinges. Deep grooves like claw marks are imdebbed in the metal door, and Gwen pointedly decides to file that away in the Let’s Not Think About That Right Now file of her brain and pushes onward. It made her nervous knowing that the Rotwalker, or whatever the hell it was called, could still be lurking inside the museum, but it made entering the building altogether much easier.

She turns on the flashlight on her phone and they walk through the dark. Neil nervously asks if they can hold hands and Max tells him to stop being a pussy and Gwen shushes them all loudly, wondering for the upteenth time this day how she hasn’t gone completely insane yet. Gwen leads them from the back and quickly looks at the directory. There’s no way in hell she’s going to forage this entire museum for David. He was most likely in the break room or something. 

Without the alarms going off and no people around, it’s incredibly easy to cover most of the museum on foot in a short amount of time. Gwen kept her ears strained for any noise, but found the entire building to be blissfully quiet. There was only one room, the main office, that could possibly be holding David. The rest were janitor closets and storage roms. Since the museum, although large, was only one floor, it took little to no time to find the office. Gwen picked the lock quickly, and opened the door, only for it to stop mid-way. 

Huh? That was weird. Gwen tries pushing the door open wider only to be met with resistance. Someone must’ve blocked the door, but why? Was David back there? She almost risked calling his name before her phone light cast a beam of light at the door and Gwen sucked in a breath. 

Bodies. 

Bodies blocked the door, easily five or six, stacked on top of each other. Gwen is so startled that she nearly yells. Neil beats her to it. 

“What the fuck?!” Neil almost barrels into Nikki in an effort to back up. “What the fuck is that?”

“Oh shit.” Max whispers, eyes wide. Gwen blocks the view as best she can with her body and sticks her head in through the small opening. Her phone sweeps across the room. No David. It’s empty save for the bodies. Gwen wonders if they’re dead, but there’s no blood or visible injuries, and they were all wearing the same work uniforms as Kevin. She quickly makes a decision and pushes the door open enough to slip her body through. Neil and Nikki whisper protests, but Gwen ignores them.

She is able to find a ring of keys and takes them, trying her very hardest to ignore the bodies stacked against the door as she slips out the room. Gwen snaps the door shut, knees trembling.

“He’s not there.” she tells them with as much control as she can muster. “I don’t think he’s in the museum at all. Let’s go.”

It takes a minute for the kids to unthaw themselves from their shock, but when they do, Gwen notes that they practically meld into her side as she guides them through the museum. They try each room, which consists of three storage rooms, two janitor closets and the bathrooms. There’s no sign of David, and Gwen soon leads them back to the office, setting the ring of keys back in their proper place. They walk outside to the car, ignoring the collective dread growing in all their stomachs. Once everyone is safely buckled in, they sit in relative silence for a minute.

“That was some pretty fucked up shit.” Nikki says plainly. Gwen knows she’s serious because her face has lost all color, and Nikki only swore when she was really feeling strongly about something. Murmurs of agreement make its round before Gwen starts the car and drives off.

She’s not sure where to go from here. If David wasn’t at the museum, then where could he have gone? Where in the world should she go next? Gwen wishes David would answer her, already. This would’ve been so much easier if they were able to talk. She needed to hear him give another one of his obnoxiously optimistic speeches about how everything was going to be okay despite the fact that the world might  _ literally _ end. 

She’s not sure what prompts her to pull into the mall parking lot, but Gwen parks the car and gets out. The kids climb out after her and Gwen doesn’t bother to lock the car. 

“Why are we here?” Neil asked, rubbing at his eyes. 

“I don’t know.” Gwen admits, and at Max’s venomous stare, she rolls her eyes. “I just feel like we should check here, alright? It’s just a feeling I have.”

Nikki nods seriously. “I get it.” she pipes up, garnering their attention. “It’s pack intuition. A sixth sense. I have it, too.” 

Nobody responds to that, but Gwen feels slightly better that Nikki was at least trying to be helpful in her own weird way. They make their way towards the mall entrance, only to find that the sliding automated doors have been ripped apart. Glass and wires litter the ground. On cue, everyone turns to Nikki, who looks on in a very self-assured manner. 

“See? I told you!” 

The mall is dark and empty. It feels incredibly strange to walk through it, and every little noise has Gwen on edge. She’s not sure what she’s going to do when she comes face to face with the Rotwalker. Gwen’s never fought an interdimensional monster before, this is a night of firsts for her and she couldn’t be more anxious. 

“Where do we even start looking?” Max whispers irritably. “This mall is fucking huge.” 

“Are we going to talk about the _ room of bodies _ back in the museum?” Neil says. “Because I definitely feel like that’s worth discussing. Thoughts?”

“Yeah, about that. Are those people dead?” Max asks. “Like, did we really just see a bunch of dead bodies back there? Are we just going to leave them for some poor fucker to find later on?”

“Shh!” Nikki hushes suddenly. “I can’t concentrate!”

Gwen raises an eyebrow. “Concentrate on what?”

“Do you smell that?” Nikki sniffs the air. “Am I the only one who smells that?” 

Gwen takes an experimental sniff of the air and her face immediately wrinkles in disgust. “Ugh, what the fuck is that smell?”

It’s terrible, like earth and blood. It’s heavy in her nose, and the overpowering scent of blood makes Gwen’s stomach churn. 

“That’s horrible.” Neil visibly shivers, eyes darting around the center of the mall. The mall lights are dim, and the neon signs are glowing, but everything is cast in an eerie light. Gwen gives a fortifying breath and tries to calm herself. 

“Come on, let's keep moving.” she instructs. 

“Maybe if we follow the scent, we’ll find David.” Nikki suggests. 

“And if he’s not there and we end up getting brutally killed by some four-eyed horror? Great plan.” Max supplies unhelpfully, and Nikki frowns. 

“I don't see you coming up with anything.” she points outs and Max scoffs.

“We’re ten years old, Nikki. If anyone should be coming up with a plan it should be the adult.” he gestures roughly to Gwen, who’s scanning the mall directory with the light from her phone.

“I’m trying.” she defends lamely.

“Keep telling yourself that.” 

A tense silence falls between them all, and Gwen’s jaw clenches. Her eyes squint as she tries to find someplace David might be, when her phone buzzes. She nearly jumps a foot in the air, and quickly sees that it’s David. 

_ David. _

She answers the call and can’t keep the emotion out of her voice.  _ “David.”  _ Gwen breathes his name and clutches the phone tighter in her grip. Max, Nikki and Neil all exchange surprised but delighted glances. “Where are you? Are you hurt?”

There’s a static buzz on the other end of the line. A voice fades in and out. 

“Hello? David?”

_ Bzzz- “Gwen..I-”Bzz! “Upstairs--office---” _

“David? Can you hear me?”

The static continues before the call drops. 

“What did he say?” Neil presses eagerly. 

“I think he said he’s upstairs?” Gwen responds. 

_ “You don’t know?”  _ Max says, as if she’s completely stupid. 

“There was static on the other end, I couldn’t hear everything he was telling me.” Gwen pinches the bridge of her nose. “He also mentioned an office. That doesn’t really make sense to me, but we should start by looking at the top floor. Maybe we’ll find something.” She’s still frowning, because now that she’s thinking about it, that didn’t really sound like David. The static made it hard for her to hear him properly, but something didn’t feel right…

A loud shriek fills the air, and Gwen has no time to brace herself before something darts out of the dark and lunges toward them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i've finally written out the last few chapters of this story, and i'm pretty proud of it. now that's it's finished, i feel much better about posting it on here. i think you guys will really like the ending! ;) enjoy!


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> gwen fights a monster and time is steadily running out.

Gwen doesn’t think, there’s no time. She knocks Neil out of the way just as a dark blur rushes by them. Neil manages to keep himself from falling over. 

“Run!” Gwen exclaims. “Run, go!” 

Max, Nikki, and Neil head in the same direction, heading across the mall to the restrooms. Whatever lunged at them has stepped into the light, and Gwen’s stomach plummets. It’s a beast, covered in dewy black feathers with front claws and a crudely pointed beak. Four red eyes turn to face her, and it emits another loud screech. Gwen can see it’s pointed teeth dripping with something black, and it’s forked tongue slips out before retracting back inside its mouth. That same putrid smell from earlier is rolling off the thing in waves. Was this the Rotwalker? Gwen squints, scrutinizing it. No...the Rotwalker was a lot bigger. This must be one of the minions Quartermaster mentioned.

Claws skimming across the floor, another shriek sounds from the bird and it hunches over. Gwen holds the axe aloft as it races toward her. Her knees are shaking so badly she can barely stand, and takes a daring swing in its direction. The monster dodges easily, and knocks her off her feet with a swipe of its front claws. Gwen lands hard on her back, she can hear Nikki calling out to her in the distance. The monster launches itself again and jumps on her. Gwen just manages to wedge the axe between them, and tries to wrestle the bird off her. It’s hissing and spitting, claws scratching against the linoleum tiled floor. Fear makes her muscles tired, everything seems to slow down to a painful pace. 

_ “Gwen!” _ Nikki is yelling again, and Gwen catches a glimpse of them. They’ve stopped running, looking on in horror at her wrestling with the beast.

“Go!” Gwen screams at them. “Don’t stop for me, just go!” 

Nikki almost steps forward, but Max takes her by the arm and they reluctantly keep running. The bird’s eyes flicker to them and it slides off her before darting after the kids. Gwen pulls herself up and runs, diving as she tackles the bird to the ground. She can’t keep a firm grip on the axe, and it flies out of her hands. Gwen is rolled roughly onto her back and she kicks the bird in its face with as much strength as she can muster. It rears back, screeching, and Gwen scrambles for the axe. 

She is able to grasp the axe handle before she is being pulled back, a claw wrapped tightly around her ankle. Gwen manages to turn, swinging the axe with all her might downward. It catches a piece of the bird’s side, and blood spurts from the wound. It gives an ear shattering howl and flings Gwen away. She’s unprepared for the sheer strength this monster exhibits, and she ends up flying into the security gate of a clothes store. Her breath is knocked from her painfully. 

Her back pulses, her ankle burns. Gwen watches as the bird shrieks, blood spraying from its side, coating the floor. Gwen keeps a steady grip on her axe, pushing herself up on her knees. The bird lunges, and Gwen drags herself out of the way. She’s not fast enough, however, and they go smashing through the gate. Gwen can’t think, she can’t even breathe. Her vision blacks out for a second. 

They crash into the clothes racks, metal racks slamming to the ground and hangers clattering against each other. Gwen’s head explodes with pain, and there’s a ripping sound that has her scrambling to her feet despite the throb in the back of her skull. The bird tears through the clothes, its four angry eyes fixated on her as it prepares to launch at her again. Gwen huffs, her sides aching. She’s swaying on her feet, but she can’t afford to faint now. She needs to get this over with. 

Gwen blinks, trying to get her vision to stop blurring. She swings her axe again, and it carves through the air in one graceful arch just as the bird comes from her. The axe slices the bird across the throat, spraying hot blood everywhere. Gwen shuts her eyes, rearing back to avoid getting it on her clothes. Black saliva drips from its mouth, blood coats the ground and reaches her shoes. The bird cringes, jerking in agony as it gives one ear-piercing scream after another until it grows hoarse, and then it grows still. 

Once Gwen is sure it's dead, she allows herself to collapse and breathe.

She  _ really _ needs to learn how to shoot this gun. 

Nikki, Max and Neil are standing by the bathroom waiting for Gwen. Nikki still wanted to go and help, but Max had to hold her back to keep her from sprinting off and going after Gwen. They had hid in the bathroom until all of the noise stopped, but they hadn’t been brave enough to go and see about Gwen. Neil had finished getting sick minutes ago, but he still looked pale and tired. 

“Did you see that thing?” Nikki whispered, trembling. “I’ve never seen anything like that before.”

“It was awful.” Neil agreed. “Did you see its eyes?” he placed a hand to his stomach delicately. “I think I might puke again.”

“Neither of you would be acting like this if you both had just stayed back at the hotel like you were supposed to.” Max snapped. “Can you two please be quiet? I’m in no mood to hear you two bitch.”

Nikki and Neil looked at each other hesitantly. Max rarely snapped at them like this. 

“Is everything okay, Max?” Neil cautioned. 

“You two are getting in the way, what do you think? It’s already bad enough that Gwen has no fucking idea what she’s doing, having you two come along like this is some group activity instead of a serious rescue mission is just making things worse.” he turned around and fixed them both with his best glare. Neil cringed away from him, but Nikki appeared undeterred like always. 

“I think you’re scared.” she told him bluntly, and Max’s eyes widened a fraction. 

“What?” he hissed dangerously. 

“You heard me, Max.” 

Neil put a hand on her shoulder. “Nikki…” he whispered her name warningly, staring at Max as if he were a bomb ready to go off at any second. 

“I’m not scared of shit, you two are the ones pissing themselves over that... _ thing! _ You should’ve stayed behind if you’re so scared.”

“We came to help find David!” Nikki gave him an incredulous look, throwing her arms up. “Did you really expect us to just sit back and not help him?”

“Oh, please.” Max spit angrily. “You’re just doing it because you’re bored! You’ve been bored ever since we came on this stupid trip, so you stuck your nose in where it didn’t belong and now you’re fucked--”

Nikki pushed Max with all of the force in her body, sending him sprawling to the floor. Neil grabbed her by the overalls, afraid she was going to launch herself at him. 

“Nikki!” he said, appalled. “Nikki--”

_ “Shut the fuck up!” _ she yelled, and her voice was raw and angry and cracked with tears. “You just...shut up! You don’t know anything! We know how important David is to you, Max. But he’s not just yours!” her voice rang out in the mall, silencing any sort of rebuttal Max had to offer. “He’s not just yours.” she repeated miserably, wiping away the tears in her eyes. “He’s ours, too. We need him, too.” 

For as long as both boys had known her, Nikki was always the more optimistic of the three. Bold and daring, as lively as birds in spring. She was wildfire, there was something almost untouchable about her. She never caved, never cowered. But now, with tears in her eyes and her shoulders hunched, Nikki looked like any other kid, one who was afraid of the things in the dark and wanted someone to comfort her. 

Max looked at her tear-stained face and curled his lip at her. “Whatever.” he rolled his eyes. 

Neil punched him. 

It was enough to stop Nikki from crying. She blinked, eyes wide, as Neil was suddenly on top of Max with his hand curled into a fist. A red mark was blooming across Max’s face, and the look they shared together was pure misery. Max’s eyes, glittering with anger and hurt and unshed tears were boring into Neil’s. His gaze was a smoldering fire, frustration and anxiety and regret all mingled together. 

Max and Neil never fought, not really. Max always had the upper hand in a way. He was sneaky and conniving and intimidating, but the one thing he never did was bully Neil and Nikki. They were his first friends, his partners in crime. They went through everything together, even if it was something as simple as them sitting by Lake Lilac and talking about home. They were the first to know about Max’s home life. They were the first to see him cry. 

Max did his best to deny it at first, but he could no longer ignore that Neil and Nikki had carved themselves a place in his life. Before, he would’ve fought it, tooth and nail. He’d never admit that he craved their friendship more than he initially thought, because caring didn’t mean a damn thing if the ones you loved didn’t feel the same. It happened with his parents, he couldn’t bear it happening to them. 

Yet here he was, driving them away. 

“Stop it.” Neil demanded firmly. “You know she’s right, Max.”

Max turned his face away, brain scrambling for an excuse and coming up empty. “I--”

“Stop lying to us. For once, Max, stop lying to yourself.”

Max swallowed down the lump in his throat. Even though most of Neil’s weight was resting on top of him, he couldn’t bear to look him in the eyes. All he could do was cling to what little pride he had left and let Neil speak.

“It’s okay to be afraid, just don’t be a dick about it, alright? We’re not the bad guys, here. We knew you’d get pissed because we were coming along, and we both don’t care. We weren’t just gonna let you go through this alone.” 

Nikki’s loud sniffs divert their attention to her. She was still wiping at her eyes, and turned to head into the bathroom.

“Nikks.” Neil called out gently. “You okay?”

She nodded. “Gonna wash my face.” she whispered and let the bathroom door swing shut behind her.

Max slumped onto the floor, all of his previous anger gone and replaced with hot shame. He felt his face burning, and he blinked at the sting behind his eyes. Neil was right, because of course he was. 

“Fucking hell,” he mumbled, voice thick. “It seems like I’m always making her cry.”

“You can apologize to her when she comes out.” Neil climbed off him, sitting down next to him with his legs crossed. All of his previous fire had melted away, and now he sat, hunched over and exhausted. “Apologize to Gwen, too.” At Max’s confused expression, Neil mustered up a stern look. “We heard what you said to her in the car.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i can't write action scenes to save my life and now you can all witness this for the next couple of chapters. 
> 
> these poor kids are going through a pretty tough time, aren't they? even though this is gwen's story, i wanted to explore max, nikki, and neil's emotions as well. i rewrote their fight scene at least three times and i hope i did it well. i feel like these three aren't prone to arguing among themselves, but it's hard to keep a cool head when the world is ending and someone you love might end up dying. max can't help but lash out, luckily neil and nikki are there to knock some sense into him. enjoy!


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the kids find david, and gwen finds herself in trouble.

Gwen’s whole body is aching, and she barely gets a minute to collect herself before the panic sets in again. She  _ knows _ she saw Max, Nikki and Neil head to the bathrooms, but when she looks in both, she finds them empty. Damn. She tries to keep her thoughts from going haywire as she makes the slow climb up the mall steps to the top floor. She hopes they’re okay, hopes they haven’t split up or gotten attacked while she was busy dealing with that monster. 

Blood sticks to her clothes and dots themselves along her arms. The axe is covered in it, and Gwen tries her best to ignore it as she passes it from one hand to the other. The gun is nestled safely in her back pocket, the potion Quartermaster gave her is safe as well. She was afraid the bottle had cracked from her fight, but it remained intact and still in her purse. There aren’t too many stairs, but the adrenaline has long since left her and she feels weak and uncoordinated as she climbs. 

Her fingers burn. Everything hurts. Gwen tries to take deep breaths but finds them coming in short sporadic bursts anyway, they leave her chest on fire. God, she really hopes she finds David soon. She needs one of his hugs, one hug in particular. He squeezed her just a little too tight and nuzzled into her neck, whispering in her ear. He did that once when Gwen got caught in a thunderstorm and twisted her ankle. It took her nearly an hour and a half to get back to camp. Once she was dry and changed her clothes, David didn’t hesitate to wrap himself around her.

Gwen thought it was a bit much, and told him so, but she didn’t exactly try to pull him away either. She felt warm when he hugged her, but when he nuzzled into her neck Gwen thought her legs were going to collapse from underneath her. She was used to him being affectionate, but this was something entirely different. Back then, Gwen had gracefully peeled herself away from him. Now, she craved his touch more than anything. Just thinking about it set her heart racing.

Gwen wanted him. It felt like eons since she last looked at him, and now the chill of his absence was permeating her skin and frosting her bones over. Max was right. If David ended up dying it would be all her fault. She’d lose her best friend, her closest companion, because she was selfish. Max would lose a great potential parent, the campers would lose a counselor, and it would be all her fault. Gwen reached the top floor of the mall and stopped, closing her eyes and catching her breath. 

_ Please,  _ she thought desperately.  _ Please let me find him.  _

David wakes up to someone shoving him in the shoulder. His eyes snap open and he jerks to attention, nearly colliding foreheads with someone. It takes him a minute to come to his surroundings, and he blinks several times before focusing on the figure in front of him. 

“Nikki?” 

“He’s awake!” Nikki exclaims, and wraps her arms around him in a tight hug. “He’s awake, you guys!”

“We can hear you, Nikki.” Max says, and David cranes his neck over Nikki’s shoulder. He’s looking off the side with his usual air of indifference, but when they lock eyes, he graces David with a small smile. Neil extracts Nikki from David before hugging him himself, and then they begin to untie him. 

“How did you end up like this, David?” Neil asks. 

David sighs as his arms are freed and he rubs at his wrists and elbows to soothe the ache. “I don’t really remember.” he confesses. “I was meeting with Gwen’s...friend, and that’s all I can recall. When I woke up, I was tied up like this.”

“Yeah, well, her “friend” is like, some weird monster from another plane of existence.” Nikki explained. “We heard Quartermaster talking to Gwen about it back at the hotel.” 

“What?!” David glanced between the three of them. “I’m sorry but that...that sounds--”

“Ridiculous?” Max supplied, working on the ropes on David’s legs. “Yeah, we know. But it's true. We were looking for you in the museum and saw a whole bunch of bodies.”

_ “What--” _

“And some weird, four-eyed bird monster thing attacked Gwen.” Nikki said. All of the color drained from David’s face. 

_ “What?!” _

“She has an axe, if that helps.”

Max finished untying David’s legs and he stood up quickly, the blood rushing to his knees and he leaned against the wall for balance. “We have to get to her.” he said, wincing at the cramps in his legs. “She’s in trouble.”

“She has an axe and a gun.” Max replied. “It’d be pretty sad if she had all of that and still ended up dying.”

“Max!” David looked affronted and put his hands on his hips, a gesture that meant he was gearing up for a lecture. Max kept his face neutral, but he was a little glad to see him do it again. “Gwen is your counselor, don’t you care?”

“Eh.”

“Did you happen to see anything at all while you were in here?” Neil questioned, and David blinked. 

“Uh, yeah. Kevin...he was here a little while ago and caught me trying to call Gwen.” David finally felt confident enough to stand on his own two feet. “I don’t know why he put me in here...but I remember his eyes were red.” he thought back to the way Kevin’s fingers traced against his skin, the way his eyes bored into his own. David could still feel that awful sinking feeling in his gut, as if his mind were slipping away from him. He had woken up afterwards, disoriented and confused, but spent the next several minutes getting himself out of his bindings. It was a fairly tedious process, but David managed to free himself and immediately called Gwen once he found his phone.

Unfortunately, the signal was crappy and his battery was dying. He could only get a few words in before Kevin snuck up from behind and knocked him out again. This time, there was no way for David to free himself. The alarm bells were going off in his head. He didn’t exactly know what the kids were talking about when it came to this...monster. David thought he was dreaming when he saw those eyes staring at him, but from the looks on their faces, he knew they weren’t joking with him. 

It was enough to make his head spin. His brain was trying really hard to process everything, and a knot formed in his stomach. “How did you find me?”

“Gwen said you mentioned an office before the call dropped.” Neil said. “At first, we didn’t know where to look, but we saw one store that looked really fucked up and figured we’d check in there.”

They led David out of the office. Glancing around, David saw that they were in an office supply store that had been completely wrecked. Supplies and metal racks were strewn about with abandon. There were claw marks on the walls and what looked like black feathers scattered sporadically among the floor. Instinctively, David put himself in front of the kids, sticking an arm out so they wouldn’t move past him.

“Hold on,” he told them. “I think you should all stay behind me for now. Where’s Gwen?”

“She might still be downstairs.” Nikki said softly. David noticed that she looked pale and solemn. Even in the midst of trouble, Nikki was always brimming with fire. Neil didn’t look great either. David noticed the way he was wringing his hands together, something Neil only did whenever he got really anxious. Whatever was happening, it was really affecting them. The only person who appeared unfazed by anything was Max, who was still sporting his usual disinterested expression. 

“Are you all okay?” he asked. “Max? You don’t seem upset.”

“Oh no, I’m definitely traumatized.” Max said. “I just figure freaking out right now won’t help.”

“Traumatized?” David’s eyes widened in alarm. “Are any of you hurt?” he made a move towards Max, and the ten year old merely slapped his arm away. 

“Chill, David. You can thank your co-counselor for the PTSD we’re going to develop once this whole shit-show is over.”

“Gwen?” David took Nikki’s hand as they carefully left the supply store, side stepping debris and clutter. “What does she have to do with any of this?”

Max scoffed. “Don’t be an idiot, David. She’s the reason why we’re in this mess in the first place, after all.”

David frowned. Max sounded more bitter and angry than he usually did. While he didn’t think it was a good idea for Gwen to bring the kids along, he figured she probably had a good reason for doing so. Gwen would never put the campers in unnecessary danger, even if she tried her best to seem apathetic when it came to them. “I don’t believe that.” he said quietly. 

If Max heard him, he didn’t reply.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just so you know, the story is going to get pretty dark from here on out. it's nothing too extreme, but things will be getting heavy for the group. enjoy!


End file.
